n entirely concealed by
debris. On the inner side the upper portion was visible, owing to the
fact that the owner had gathered a quantity of loose stones to
construct a wall farther down the slope. Previous to this the ancient
wall was entirely covered by the detritus, and even after this partial
exposure its true nature was not suspected. It was about 6 feet high,
built up of rocks of various sizes and shapes loosely fitted together,
earth from the outside surface being used to level up in places where
the stones would not bind properly. The largest rock in the top layer
weighed about 800 pounds.

The horizontal distance between the top of the wall as it was when
cleared off and the corresponding portion of the cave roof was 4 feet;
to the roof directly above it, about 2 feet. Apparently it had at one
time entirely closed the entrance; at the western end where it abutted
against the solid rock the upper portion was firmly consolidated by
travertine. Directly above it, nearly 2 feet higher, a slab and some
small irregular fragments were securely attached to the side and roof
by the same agency. A crevice in the bedrock just at the end of the
artificial wall contained several wagonloads of small rocks which had
been thrown into it. These also were united into a solid mass by the
travertine, all of which had been deposited by water flowing through
the crevice. It does not follow that the wall was ever higher toward
the opposite end than at this time. In the centuries that have elapsed
since it was put up, the roof at the front of the cave, being rather
thin-bedded, may have disintegrated. It was not possible to uncover
the wall in shape for illustrating; portions of it continually
crumbled as the looser material piled against it was removed.

From the wall inward the foreign material piled against the west side
of the cave was composed almost entirely of small rocks, with scarcely
any earth, and so compactly bound with travertine and stalagmite as to
resist all attempts to remove it by ordinary means. On the east
side--the left as the cave is entered--there was a great variation in
the size of the stones; they were intermixed with much loose dry
earth, and there was scarcely any "drip-formation" in the mass. The
removal of all this disclosed a projection of solid rock forming a
shelf from 8 to 12 feet wide, whose top was about 2 feet higher than
the bottom of our trench. About 20 feet from the ancient wall the
trench re