Phillips, Mr. Vivian, Mr. Pengelly, and myself, to make a systematic exploration of Kent's Cavern, which was placed at our disposal by Sir Lawrence Palk, the proprietor. From that time, until 1880, the exploration was steadily carried on under the immediate and constant superintendence of Mr. Pengelly and Mr. Vivian; and the names of Professor Busk, Professor Boyd Dawkins, and Mr. W. A. Sanford, F.G.S., were added to the list of the committee. Mr. Pengelly, who acted as reporter to the committee, has in successive years rendered sixteen accounts to the Association[1] of the progress of the researches, which have been printed in their yearly Reports from 1865 to 1880. Mr. Pengelly has also communicated a long series of papers upon the exploration of the Cave[2] to the Devonshire Association. I have been allowed, for the purposes of this volume, to figure a certain number of the instruments discovered in Kent's Cavern, and for the details I give concerning them, I am indebted partly to the annual reports already mentioned, and partly to the kindness of the late Mr. Pengelly.
The cave is about a mile east of Torquay harbour, and is of a sinuous character, running deeply into a hill of Devonian Limestone, about half a mile distant from the sea. In places, it expands into large chambers, to which various distinctive names have been given.
It is needless for me to enter into any particulars as to the method employed in conducting the explorations, by which the position of each object discovered was accurately determined. I may, however, shortly describe the series of deposits met with in the spacious chamber near the entrance to the cave, which has been the principal scene of the discoveries, and which corresponds in its main features with the other parts of the cave. The deposits are as follows, in descending order:—
1. Large blocks of limestone which have fallen from the roof, sometimes cemented together by stalagmite.
2. A layer of black, muddy mould, 3 inches to 12 inches in thickness.
3. Stalagmite 1 foot to 3 feet thick, almost continuous, and in places containing large fragments of limestone.
4. Red cave-earth, varying in thickness, and containing about
- ↑ See Reports of the Brit. Assoc. for the Advancement of Science, 1865-71, inclusive. See also a lecture on "Kent's Cavern, Torquay," by W. Pengelly, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S., in Proc. R. I. Gt. Britain, Feb. 23, 1866. Dawkins, "Early Man in Britain," p. 194. "Cave-hunting," p. 324.
- ↑ Vols. vi. to xviii. See also Quar. Journ. of Science, April, 1874.
