Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 26.djvu/578

 There was one deep dark defile which much tempted exploration ; but the only possible means of access seemed to be far from agreeable. The mouth of the gorge was very narrow ; two precipitous cliffs hung over a dark pool, at the base of a high slippery rock, over which the diminished summer stream fell in spray. We succeeded in creeping on our hands and knees along a narrow ledge, along the side of the cliff, and climbed the precipice ; and the extraordinary scene alone would have rewarded us. Gigantic walls of rock ascended on either side 600 or 700 feet precipitously, from which threateningly projected the great indurated masses, circular, pear- shaped (some double, like huge hourglasses), ready apparently to fall at the slightest touch and add to the mass of fallen blocks, piled upon each other, which choked up the ravine to the depth of 50 feet and more, most of them containing fossil remains. In one lay displayed to view on the surface fifteen caudal vertebrae of a great Plesiosaurus : another had the cervical vertebrae and two forearms, with paddle- bones and digits, which we gazed at with longing eyes ; but the size and hardness of the rocks rendered their extrication impracticable with such small tools as we had been able to bring. From the middle of another projected a small suspicious-looking bone, which might chance to prove a portion of what I so desired to obtain, the skull of the creature. Underneath the Septaria-clays lies a small seam of brown coal, having immediately above it a shell-bed some 18 inches in thickness, in which I found remains of fishes (palatal teeth of Hays &c). I broke out with a hammer and wedge one large mass of oyster-shells, carbonized wood, and rolled quartz -pebbles cemented together, containing, along with several small lacertian teeth, two very perfect large vertebrae of procoelian character.

Returning on the next and several following days, we conveyed to the place large sledgehammers and crowbars, and brought additional arms to help us. Leaving a stonemason to cut out the vertebrae, Mr. Innes and I set to work at the large boulder; and when at last we managed with wedges to effect a fissure and get our heavy crowbar inserted, we had the infinite gratification of splitting it in half, and found that it divided along the surface of a magnificent skull in splendid preservation, with all the teeth complete, of a Teleosaurian 2 feet 8 inches in length from the point of the snout to the base of the cranium.

After a day's hard labour we succeeded in breaking it out of its crystalline matrix, in three portions, weighing about 100 lbs. each. On returning to where the stonemason was at work, it was not a little mortifying to find that he had smashed the specimen to pieces ; however, it was a consolation that we had not intrusted the disengagement of the more valuable prizes to his hands. These we carried, step by step, to the edge of the precipice, and, lowering them with ropes, placed them where we were able to bring a packhorse up the river-bed. The collection obtained subsequently in this spot included several vertebrae of Ichthyosaurus, bones of the pelvis, also a femur and humerus of large dimensions.

From a rock by itself we also obtained portions of the skeleton of