All remembrance of Bonnemaison's disooyery was nearly lost, when, passing throogh Aurignac in October, 1860, the circumstances attending it were related to me by M. Vieu, with details not before given, and which led me to decide upon visiting the place. I went there, accompanied by three workmen, one of whom was the original discoverer of the cave.
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The sepulchral vault, in the partially cleared state it had been left by him, was at that time, on the level of the floor, 214 metres deep, and 212 metres high, measured at the centre of the arched entrance, which, as has been before stated, looked towards the N.W. The accompanying wood-cut represents a section of this cavity, or grotto, as it was at the time of my visit, and before the removal of the layer B, composed of loose earth and fragments of rock, in which I still found several human bones imbedded, together with flint implements, worked portions of Reindeer's horn, and a considerable number of mammalian bones, in a state, comparatively speaking, of remarkable preservation.
In the figure, the layer B in the interior of the grotto is represented as continuous with the external layer C, in which the very numerous mammalian bones were all found broken, or even comminuted, and moreover sometimes burnt or gnawed by carnivorous animals. When I inquired of Bonnemaison whether, at the time he discovered the cave, the continuity of the interior layer B with that on the exterior marked C, were not interrupted by the vertical stone slab, by which the entrance was closed, he was unable to give any positive reply. The two parallel dotted lines therefore, indicating in F the place occupied by the slab, have been continued only to the surface of the layer as it existed at the time of my visit. If the stone slab had been preserved, it would have been sufficient to put it in its original place to ascertain whether it extended below the level of the bone layer, but unfortunately Bonnemaison had found it convenient to break it up for road material. However this may be, the perfect state of preservation of the bones imbedded in the interior layer of the grotto, denotes that the carnivorous animals, the Hyenas amongst
