e carnivorous animal after which the room is
named. This chamber is about 80 feet in width by 98 in length. We
first descend a slope formed of earth and debris mostly derived from
the outside. This slope, in which are cut several steps, rests upon a
hard, compact, and crystalline stalagmitic floor. Upon turning to the
right, we come to the Hall of Columns, the most beautiful of all. Here
the floor bristles with stalagmites, which in several places are
connected with the stalactites that depend from the ceiling. This room
is about 50 feet square. After this we reach the Hall of Crevices, 80
feet square, and this leads to the great Hall of Gargas, which is
about 328 feet in length by 80, 98, and 105 in width. In certain
places enormous fissures in the vault rise to a great height. Some of
these, shaped like great inverted funnels, are more than 60 yards in
length. The grotto terminates in the Creeping Hall. As its name
indicates, this part of the cave can only be traversed by lying flat
upon the belly. It gives access to the upper grotto through a narrow
and difficult passage that it would be possible to widen, and which
would then allow visitors to make their exit by traversing the
beautiful upper grotto, whose natural entrance is situated 150 yards
above the present one. This latter was blasted out about thirty years
ago.

Upon following the direction of the great crevices, we reach a small
chamber, wherein are found the Oubliettes of Gargas--a vertical well
65 feet feet in depth. The aperture that gives access to this strange
well (rendered important through the paleontological remains collected
in it) is no more than two feet in diameter. Such is the general
configuration of the grotto.

In 1865 Dr. Garrigou and Mr. De Chastaignier visited the grotto, and
were the first to make excavations therein. These latter allowed these
scientists to ascertain that the great chamber contained the remains
of a quaternary fauna, and, near the declivity, a deposit of the
reindeer age.

As soon as it was possible to obtain a permit from the Municipal
Council of Aventignan to do so, I began the work of excavation, and
the persistence with which I continued my explorations led me to
discover one of the most important deposits that we possess in the
chain of the Pyrenees. My first excavations in Bear Hall were made in
1873, and were particularly fruitful in an opening 29 feet long by 10
wide that terminates the hall, to the left. I