This page has been validated.
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY.
13

On the walls of the larger chamber curious characters have been cut into the rock to a depth varying from one-fourth to one-half inch, by some blunt instrument in the hands of an unskillful sculptor.

Upon my last visit to this interesting spot, with the assistance of Mr. C. E. Robinson, of Clarksville, Ark., I succeeded in tracing these characters on paper, which I afterward reduced to one-sixth the size of the originals, by means of the camera lucida, thus preserving their true outlines and proportions; a traced copy of which accompanies this article.

Fig. 1 represents hemispherical depressions or holes in the floor of the cavern, near the left entrance and a few inches from the wall. They are arranged in an arc-shaped row, with concave side to the wall. Fig. 2 and the first character in Fig. 3, which occur above Fig. 1, on the wall, are incised circles, each 7 inches in diameter, and have each a single ray pointing downward and to the right. The other character of Fig. 3 consists of two concentric circles, the outer one measuring 5¼ inches in diameter, and the inner one 3 inches.

Figs. 4, 5, and 6 occur to the right and at about the same height as Fig. 3. Fig. 4 measures from top to bottom 11½ inches; Fig. 5, 7 inches, and Fig. 6, 23 inches.

Fig. 7 is a double character. The one on the left may represent the antler of a stag, the other a bow. The whole figure from left to right measures 23½ inches.

Fig. 8 is a rayed character with a circular body chiseled out to the depth of the rays, viz, one-fourth inch. The body of this figure is 4½