The committee resolved not to begin at the entrance which Mr. Jackson discovered in 1838 (Fig. 19 A), but to make a new passage, at a point where daylight could be seen through the chinks of the broken débris, which there prevented access. Ground was broken on a small plateau in front of this (Figs. 19 B, 20), which, from the sunny aspect and commanding view, would naturally be chosen by the dwellers in the cave as their more usual place for eating and lounging, and in which we might therefore expect to find the remains of whatever they had dropped or lost. The gloomy recesses of a cave, indeed, even if lit up by large fires or by torches, are not fitted for any other purpose than for sleeping or concealment; and if we add in this case the damp cold clay under foot and the constant drip of the water overhead, it was only reasonable to infer that most of their life was spent out of doors, and that the cave was used merely as a place of retirement for shelter. As the trench progressed we dug first of all through a thickness of two feet (Figs. 20, 21) of angular blocks of limestone, that had fallen from the cliff above, and that rested on a black layer (No. 4) containing the kind of remains which we had expected. The layer was composed of fragments of bone and charcoal, surrounding the burnt stones which had formed the ancient hearths, and contained large quantities of the broken bones of animals which had been used for food, and coins and articles of luxury, as well as those instruments which were more naturally suited for the half-savage life of dwellers in caves. As we opened out the new mouth, the angular fragments disappeared and the black layer rose to the surface, composing the floor, and lying in some places beneath enormous blocks of limestone which had fallen from the roof since its accumulation, and being continuous with the layer in which Mr. Jackson first made his discoveries. [Illustration: FIG. 21.--Vertical Section at the Entrance to the Victoria Cave.] It was evident that this stratum had been formed during the sojourn of man in the cave, and we shall find, in the examination of the remains which it furnished, proof that it is connected with the obscure history of Britain during the fifth and sixth centuries. We will take each group of objects in its proper class, beginning with what at first sight seems the least promising, the broken bones of the animals that supplied the inhabitants with food. _The Bones of the Animals._