It is easy to wander back in imagination and bring the state of things that existed visibly before the mind's eye: to watch the unwieldy Mammoth or the great Rhinoceros rolling its huge bulk along; to see the pack of cowardly Hyænas or Wolves hounding some worn-out Bison to its death, over the awful cliff close by their den, which purpose effected, they themselves rushed headlong down the steep slope hard by, to fight and wrangle over the shattered carcass of their prey; or to see the Lion lying in wait by the peaceful stream in the little valley for the noble Elk or timid Deer to come for its accustomed drink; and then to behold savage Man, with his weapons of flint or bone, when out on his hunting expeditions, arriving at this peaceful valley, and there for a while making his quarters in the Den, and lighting his fires at the entrance to scare the wild beasts from their lair.[1] [1] Only a few years since, three cows were driven over the cliff by several unruly dogs, and of course were instantly killed. Thus was the tragedy of long ago re-enacted. How long ago this state of things existed is a matter for geological calculation. Suffice it that the earliest historical records show us no wild beasts existing in the land except Bears and Wolves, along with the Red Deer which is with us to this day. Now there is no sign at Wookey Hole of the time when the Bear and Wolf alone remained and all else had become extinct from the land. There is no trace whatever in the Hyæna Den of the pottery which we find in the entrance of the great cave. Without a doubt, the latest deposits here are vastly older than the most ancient deposits there. The commingling of northern, temperate, and southern forms gives evidence of oscillations in temperature such as demand a vast time to have taken place. Yet the whole of these remains accumulated between the time when the entrance to the Den was left exposed by the gradual destruction and retreat of the cliff face up the valley, and the infilling and choking of the entrance by the accumulating gravel which eventually blocked it. It is only within the last few years that the gravel arch which was first formed, and then undermined in the search after bones, has collapsed, revealing the true configuration of the cavern. Here we must again postulate a great antiquity for our caverns, since these deposits exist in what is really an insignificant fragment of the great cavern, and are only an incidental part of the material which an exposed cavity is sure to receive. But when purely geological evidences are taken into account, the demand for time becomes still more imperative. The subterranean Axe occupies, as its present channel, vast chambers formed by the excavation of thousands of tons of the hard Conglomerate, great halls over 70 feet in height and of fine proportions. The process which formed these is still at work enlarging them, till in the course of