Chapter XIV: Front Matter (14)

There is no unity of practice in the constitution of larger units. Brigades vary according to circumstances from two regiments to four, and the composition of divisions fluctuates similarly. The custom in the German cavalry has been to form brigades of two regiments and divisions of three brigades, but this practice arose primarily from the system of recruiting and has no tactical advantage. The territory assigned to each army corps provides men and horses for two regiments of cuirassiers or lancers (classed as heavy in Germany), two of dragoons, and two of hussars, and since it is clearly essential to ensure uniformity of speed and endurance within those units most likely to have to work together, it was impossible to mix the different classes. But the views now current as to the tactical employment of cavalry contemplate the employment not only of divisions but of whole cavalry corps, forty to sixty squadrons strong, and these may be called on to fulfil the most various missions. The farthest and swiftest reconnaissances are the province of light cavalry, i.e. hussars, the most obstinate attack and defence of localities the task of dragoons, and the decisive charges on the battle-field essentially the duty of the heavy cavalry. It seems probable then that the brigade will become the highest unit the composition of which is fixed in peace, and that divisions and corps will be put together by brigades of uniform composition, and assigned to the several sections of the theatre of war in which each is likely to find the most suitable field for its special character. This was the case in the Frederician and Napoleonic epochs, when efficiency and experience in the field far outweighed considerations of administration and convenience in quarters.

Hitherto, horse artillery in Europe has always formed an integral portion of the divisional organization, but the system has never worked well, and in view of the technical evolution of artillery material is no longer considered desirable. As it is always possible to assign one or more batteries to any particular brigade whose line of march will bring it across villages, defiles, &c. (where the support of its fire will be essential), and on the battle-field itself responsibility for the guns is likely to prove more of a hindrance than a help to the cavalry commander, it is probable that horse artillery will revert to the inspection of its own technical officers, and that the sole tie which will be retained between it and the cavalry will be in the batteries being informed as to the cavalry units they are likely to serve with in war, so that the officers may make themselves acquainted with the idiosyncrasies of their future commanders. The same course will be pursued with the engineers and technical troops required for the cavalry, but it seems probable that, in accordance with a suggestion made by Moltke after the 1866 campaign, the supply columns for one or more cavalry corps will be held ready in peace, and specially organized to attain the highest possible mobility which modern technical progress can ensure.

The general causes which have led to the differentiation of cavalry into the three types--hussars, dragoons and heavy--have already been dealt with. Obviously big men on little horses cannot manoeuvre side by side with light men on big horses. Also, since uniformity of excellence within the unit is the prime condition of efficiency, and the greatest personal dexterity is required for the management of sword or lance on horseback, a further sorting out became necessary, and the best light weights were put on the best light horses and called hussars, the best heavy weights on the best heavy horses and called lancers, the average of either type becoming dragoons and cuirassiers. In England, the lance not being indigenous and the conditions of foreign service making adherence to a logical system impossible, lancers are medium cavalry, but the difference of weights carried and type of horses is too small to render these distinctions of practical moment. In Germany, where every suitable horse finds its place in the ranks and men have no right of individual selection, the distinctions are still maintained, and there is a very marked difference between the weights carried and the types of men and horses in each branch, though the dead weight which it is still considered necessary to carry in cavalries likely to manoeuvre in large masses hardly varies with the weight of the man or size of the horse.

Where small units only are required to march and scout, the kit can be reduced to a minimum, everything superfluous for the moment being carried on hired transport, as in South Africa. But when 10,000 horsemen have to move by a single road all transport must be left miles to the rear, and greater mobility for the whole is attained by carrying upon the horse itself the essentials for a period of some weeks. Still, even allowing for this, it is impossible to account for the extraordinary load that is still considered necessary. In India, the British lancer, averaging 11 st. per man, could turn out in marching order at 17 st. 8 lb. (less forage nets). In Germany, the hussar, averaging 10 st. 6 lb., rode at 18 st., also without forage, and the cuirassier at 21 st. to 22 st. Cavalry equipment is, in fact, far too heavy, for in the interests of the budgets of the departments which supply saddlery, harness, &c., everything is made so as to last for many years. Cavalry saddles fifty years old frequently remain in good condition, but the losses in horse-flesh this excessive solidity entails are ignored. The remount accounts are kept separately, and few realize that in war it is cheaper to replace a horse than a saddle. In any case, the armament alone of the cavalry soldier makes great demands on the horses. His sword and scabbard weigh about 4 lb., carbine or rifle 7 lb. to 9 lb., 120 rounds of ammunition with pouches and belts about 12 lb., lance about 5 lb., and two days' forage and hay at the lowest 40 lb., or a gross total of 70 lb. or 5 st., which with 11 st. for the man brings the total to 16 st.; add to this the lightest possible saddle, bridle, cloak and blanket, and 17 st. 8 lb. is approximately the irreducible minimum. It may be imagined what care and management of the horses is required to enable them under such loads to manoeuvre in masses at a trot, and gallop for distances of 5 m. and upwards without a moment for dismounting.

_Reconnaissance and Scouting._--After 1870 public opinion, misled by the performances of the "ubiquitous Uhlan" and disappointed by the absence of great cavalry charges on the field of battle, came somewhat hastily to the conclusion that the day of "shock tactics" was past and the future of cavalry lay in acting as the eyes and ears of the following armies. But, as often happens, the fact was overlooked that the German cavalry screen was entirely unopposed in its reconnoitring expeditions, and it was not till long afterwards that it became apparent how very little these far-flung reconnaissances had contributed to the total success.

It has been calculated by German cavalry experts that not 1% of the reports sent in by the scouts during the advance from the Saar to the Meuse, August 1870, were of appreciable importance to the headquarters, and that before the orders based upon this evidence reached the front, events frequently anticipated them. Generally the conviction has asserted itself, that it is impossible to train the short-service soldiers of civilized nations sufficiently to render their reports worth the trouble of collating, and if a few cases of natural aptitude do exist nothing can ensure that these particular men should be sufficiently well mounted to transmit their information with sufficient celerity to be of importance. It is of little value to a commander to know that the enemy was at a given spot forty-eight hours previously, unless the sender of the report has a sufficient force at his disposal to compel the enemy to remain there; in other words, to attack and hold him. Cavalry and horse artillery alone, however, cannot economically exert this holding power, for, whatever their effect against worn-out men at the close of a great battle, against fresh infantry they are relatively powerless. Hence, it is probable that we shall see a revival of the strategic advanced guard of all arms, as in the Napoleonic days, which will not only reconnoitre, but fix the enemy until the army itself can execute the manoeuvre designed to effect his destruction. The general situation of the enemy's masses will, in western Europe, always be sufficiently fixed by the trend of his railway communications, checked by reports of spies, newspapers, &c., for, with neutral frontiers everywhere within a few hours' ride for a motor cyclist, anything approaching the secrecy of the Japanese in Manchuria is quite unattainable, and, once the great masses begin to move, the only "shadowing" which holds out any hope of usefulness is that undertaken by very small selected parties of officers, perfectly mounted, daring riders, and accustomed to cover distances of 100 m. and upwards. These will be supported by motor cars and advanced feelers from the field telegraphs, though probably the motor car would carry the eye-witness to his destination in less time than it would take to draft and signal a complete report.

PLATE I.

(Walthausen's _Art militaire de la cavalerie_, circa 1600.)]

PLATE II.

Tactical scouting, now as always, is invaluable for securing the safety of the marching and sleeping troops, and brigade, divisional and corps commanders will remain dependent upon their own squadrons for the solution of the immediate tactical problem before them; but, since both sides will employ mounted men to screen their operations, intelligence will generally only be won by fighting, and the side which can locally develop a marked fire superiority will be the more likely to obtain the information it requires. In this direction the introduction of the motor car and of cyclists is likely to exercise a most important influence, but, whatever may be the conveyance, it must be looked upon as a means of advance only, never of retreat. The troops thus conveyed must be used to seize villages or defiles about which the cavalry and guns can manoeuvre.

_Formations and Drill._--Cavalry, when mounted, act exclusively by "shock" or more precisely by "the threat of their shock," for the immediate result of collision is actually decided some instants before this collision takes place. Experience has shown that the best guarantee for success in this shock is afforded by a two-deep line, the men riding knee to knee within each squadron at least. Perfect cavalry can charge in larger bodies without intervals between the squadrons, but, ordinarily, intervals of about 10 yds. between adjacent squadrons are kept to localize any partial unsteadiness due to difficulties of ground, casualties, &c. The obvious drawbacks of a two-deep line are that it halves the possible extent of front, and that if a front-rank horse falls the rear-rank horse generally tumbles over it also. To minimize the latter evil, the charge in two successive lines, 150 to 200 yds. apart, has often been advocated, but this has never stood the test of serious cavalry fighting; first, because when squadrons are galloping fast and always striving to keep the touch to the centre, if a horse falls the adjacent horses close in with such force that their sidelong collision may throw down more and always creates violent oscillation; and secondly, because owing to the dust raised by the first rank the following one can never maintain its true direction. It is primarily to avoid the danger and difficulty arising from the dust that the ranks in manoeuvre are closed to within one horse's length, as, when moving at speed, the rear rank is past before the dust has time to rise.

Of all formations, the line is the most difficult to handle, and, particularly, to conceal--hence various formations in column are necessary for the preliminary manoeuvres requisite to place the squadrons in position for the final deployment previous to the charge. Many forms of these columns have been tried, but, setting aside the columns intended exclusively for marching along roads, of which "sections" (four men abreast) is most usual in England, only these survive:--

Squadron column.
Double column of squadrons.
Half column.

In _squadron column_, the troops of the squadron formed are in line one behind the other at a distance equal to the front of the troop in line. The ideal squadron consists of 128 men formed in two ranks giving 64 files, and divided into four troops of 16 files--a larger number of troops makes the drill too complicated, a smaller number makes each troop slow and unhandy. When the squadron is weak, therefore, the troop should still be maintained as near 16 files as possible, the number of troops being if necessary reduced. Thus with only 32 files, two troops of 16 files would be better than four of only 8 files.

All other formations of the regiment or brigade are fundamentally derived from the squadron column, only varying with the order in which the squadrons are grouped, and the intervals which separate them. Thus the regiment may move in _line of squadron columns_ at close interval, i.e. 11 paces apart or in _double column_ as in the diagram. To form _line_ for the charge, the squadrons open out, still in column, to full interval, i.e. the width they occupy when in line; and then on the command "Line to the front," each troop moves up to its place in line as shown in the diagram. When in line a large body of cavalry can no longer vary its direction without sacrificing its appearance of order, and as above pointed out, it is this appearance of order which really decides the result of the charge before the actual collision. Since, however, the enemy's movements may compel a change, an intermediate formation is provided, known as the "half column." When this formation is ordered, the troops within each squadron wheel half right or left, and each squadron is then able to form into column or line to the front as circumstances demand, or the whole line can be formed into column of troops by continuing the wheel and in this formation gallop out into a fresh direction, re-forming line by a simple wheel in the shortest possible time.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--G.H. Elliot, _Cavalry Literature_ (1893); v. Bismarck,
_Uses and Application of Cavalry in War_ (1818, English translation by
Lieut.-Col. Beamish, 1855); G.T. Denison, _A History of Cavalry_
(1877); Prince Kraft zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, _Letters on Cavalry_
and _Conversations on Cavalry_ (English translations, 1880 and 1892);
Colonel Mitchell, _Considerations on Tactics_ (1854) and _Thoughts on
Tactics and Organization_ (1838); E. Nolan, _Cavalry, its History and
Tactics_ (1855); Roemer, _Cavalry, its History, Management and Uses_
(New York, 1863); Maitland, _Notes on Cavalry_ (1878); F.N. Maude,
_Cavalry versus Infantry and Cavalry, its Past and Future_; C. von
Schmidt, _Instructions for the Training, Employment and Leading of
Cavalry_ (English translation, 1881); V. Verdy du Vernois, _The
Cavalry Division_ (1873); Maj.-Gen. Walker, _The Organization and
Tactics of the Cavalry Division_ (1876); C.W. Bowdler Bell, _Notes on
the German Cavalry Regulations of 1886_; F. de Brack, _Light Cavalry
Outposts_ (English translation); Dwyer, _Seats and Saddles_ (1869); J.
Jacob, _Views and Opinions_ (1857); F. Hoenig, _Die Kavallerie als
Schlachtenkorper_ (1884); Sir Evelyn Wood, _Achievements of Cavalry_
(1893); H.T. Siborne, _Waterloo Letters_; Desbriere and Sautai, _La
Cavalerie de 1740 a 1789_ (1806); Warnery, _Remarques sur la
cavalerie_ (1781); v. Canitz, _Histoire des exploits et des
vicissitudes de la cavalerie prussienne dans les campagnes de Frederic
II_ (1849); Cherfils, _Cavalerie en campagne_ (1888), _Service de
surete strategique de la cavalerie_ (1874); Bonie, _Tactique
francaise, cavalerie en campagne, cavalerie au combat_ (1887-1888);
Foucart, _Campagne de Pologne, operations de la cavalerie, nov.
1806-jan. 1807_ (1882), _La Cavalerie pendant la campagne de Prusse_
(1880); De Galliffet, _Projet d'instruction sur l'emploi de la
cavalerie en liaison avec les autres armes_ (1880), _Rapport sur les
grandes manoeuvres de cavalerie de 1879_; Kaehler, _Die preussische
Reiterei 1806-1876_ (French translation, _La Cavalerie prussienne de
1806 a 1876_); _Cavalry Studies_ (translated from the French of Bonie
and the German of Kaehler, with a paper on U.S. cavalry in the Civil
War); v. Bernhardi, _Cavalry in Future Wars_ (English translation,
1906); P.S., _Cavalry in the Wars of the Future_ (translated from the
French by T. Formby, 1905); D. Haig, _Cavalry Studies_ (1907); v.
Pelet Narbonne, _Die Kavalleriedienst_ (1901). _Cavalry on Service_
(English translation, 1906); _Erziehung und Fuhrung von Kavallerie_.
The principal cavalry periodicals are the _Revue de cavalerie_, the
_Kavalleristische Monatshefte_ (Austrian), the _Cavalry Journal_
(British), and the _Journal of the U.S. Cavalry Association_.
(F. N. M.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The loss of the regiment was twenty-eight killed and sixty-six
wounded.

CAVAN, a county in the province of Ulster, Ireland, bounded N. by Fermanagh and Monaghan, E. by Monaghan and Meath, S. by Meath, Westmeath and Longford, and W. by Longford and Leitrim. The area is 477,399 acres, or about 746 sq. m. The surface of the county is uneven, consisting of hill and dale, without any great extent of level ground, but only in its northern extremity attaining a mountainous elevation. The barony of Tullyhaw, bordering on Fermanagh, a wild dreary mountain district, known as the kingdom of Glan or Glengavlin, contains the highest land in the county, reaching 2188 ft. in Cuilcagh, the place of inauguration for the Maguires, chieftains of Fermanagh, held in veneration by the peasantry, in connexion with legends and ancient superstitions. The remainder of the county is not deficient in wood, and contains numerous lakes, generally of small dimensions, but of much beauty, especially Lough Oughter, with its many inlets and islands formed by the Erne river, between the towns of Cavan and Killashandra. The county also shares with other counties the waters of Lough Gowna and Lough Sheelin, in which, as elsewhere in the county, the fishing is good. The chief river in the county is the Erne, which originates in Lough Scrabby, one of the minor sheets of water communicating with Lough Gowna on the borders of Longford. The river takes a northerly direction by Killashandra and Belturbet, being enlarged during its course by the Annalee and other smaller streams, and finally enters Lough Erne near the northern limit of the county. The other waters, consisting of numerous lakes and their connecting streams, are mostly tributary to the Erne. A copious spring called the Shannon Pot, at the foot of the Cuilcagh Mountain, in the barony of Tullyhaw, is regarded as the source of the river Shannon. The Blackwater, a tributary of the Boyne, also rises in this county, near Bailieborough. Several mineral springs exist in this county, the chief of which is near the once frequented village of Swanlinbar. In the neighbourhood of Belturbet, near the small lake of Annagh, is a carbonated chalybeate spring. There are several other springs of less importance; and the small Lough Leighs, or Lough-an-Leighaghs, which signifies the healing lake, on the summit of a mountain between Bailieborough and Kingscourt, is celebrated for its antiscorbutic properties. The level of this lake never varies. It has no visible supply nor vent for its discharge; nor is it ever frozen during the severest winters.

_Geology_.--This elongated county includes on the north-west some of
the highland of Millstone Grit and Coal-Measures that rises above
Lough Allen. The beds below these are referred to the English Yoredale
series, and include some flaggy sandstones. It is on this series that
the Shannon rises, under the high outlier of grit on Cuilcagh. The
Carboniferous Limestone then stretches down to Cavan town, a bold
outlier of the higher strata being left above Ballyconnell. The river
Erne forms, in the limestone area, a characteristic series of
expansions and loops, with islands between them, known as Lough
Oughter. At this point we pass on to the axis of underlying Silurian
strata that runs from Longford to Donaghadee in Co. Down, and the
country becomes hilly and irregular, culminating about Cross Keys on
the old Dublin coach-road. A patch of granite, indicating doubtless a
core like that exposed at Newry, is seen in a hollow at Crossdoney. On
the south side of this axis of older rocks, we reach Carboniferous
shale and limestone at Lough Sheelin, and here enter on the great
central plain. The extreme south-east of the county includes part of
the Triassic outlier of Kingscourt. The coal-seams and concretions of
clay-ironstone in the north-west area resemble those mentioned under
the head of Co. Roscommon. Anthracite, probably of inorganic origin,
has been mined without permanent success in the Silurian beds near
Kilnaleck, and is traceable freely, associated with veins of quartz
and haematite, at Ballyjamesduff a little farther east.

_Climate and Industries._--The climate suffers from the dampness arising from the numerous lakes and the nature of the soil, and from the boisterous winds which frequently prevail, more especially in the higher districts. The soil is generally a stiff clay, cold and watery, but capable of much improvement by drainage, for which its undulating surface affords facilities. Only about one-sixteenth of the total area is quite barren. Agriculture makes little progress; the extent of the farms being generally small. Oats and potatoes are the principal crops. Flax, once of some importance, is almost neglected. In the mountainous parts, however, where the land is chiefly under grazing, the farms are larger, and in stock-raising the county is progressing.

Cavan is not a manufacturing county. The bleaching of linen and the distillation of whisky are both carried on to a small extent, but the people are chiefly employed in agricultural pursuits and in the sale of home produce. The soil in those districts not well adapted for tillage is peculiarly favourable for trees. The woods were formerly very considerable, and the timber found in the bogs is of large dimensions; but plantations are now chiefly found in demesnes, where they are extensive.

The county is not well served by railways. The Great Northern from Clones to Cavan, and the Midland Great Western from Mullingar in Westmeath to Cavan, form a through line from north to south. The Great Northern has branches to Belturbet from Ballyhaise, and to Cootehill from Ballybay; the Midland Great Western has a branch to Killashandra, and from Navan in Meath to Kingscourt, just within Cavan. The Cavan & Leitrim railway starts from Belturbet and soon leaves the county to the west.

_Population and Administration._--The population (111,917 in 1891; 97,541 in 1901), of which about 80% are Roman Catholics, shows a decrease among the most serious of the Irish counties, and emigration returns are among the heaviest. The population is almost wholly rural, the only towns being the small ones of Cavan (pop. 2822, the county town), Cootehill (1509), Belturbet (1587) and Bailieborough (1004). The county is divided into eight baronies, and contains thirty-two parishes and parts of parishes. It is almost entirely within the Protestant and Roman Catholic dioceses of Kilmore. The assizes are held at Cavan, and quarter sessions are held at Cavan, Bailieborough, Cootehill and Ballyconnell. Before the Union the county returned six members to the Irish parliament, two for the county at large, and two for each of the boroughs of Cavan and Belturbet; but since that period it has been represented in the imperial parliament by two members only, for the east and west divisions.

_History and Antiquities._--At the period of the English settlement, and for some centuries afterwards, this district was known as the Brenny, being divided between the families of O'Rourke and O'Reilly; and its inhabitants, protected by the nature of the country, long maintained their independence. In 1579 Cavan was made shire ground as part of Connaught, and in 1584 it was formed into a county of Ulster by Sir John Perrott, and subdivided into seven baronies, two of which were assigned to Sir John O'Reilly and three to other members of the family; while the two remaining, possessed by the septs of Mackernon and Magauran, and situated in the mountains bordering on O'Rourke's country, were left subject to their ancient tenures and the exactions of their Irish lord. The county subsequently came within the scheme for the plantation of Ulster under James I. The population is less mixed in race than in most parts of Ulster, being generally of Celtic extraction. Some few remains of antiquity remain in the shape of cairns, raths and the ruins of small castles, such as Cloughoughter Castle on an island (an ancient crannog) of Lough Oughter. Three miles from the town of Cavan is Kilmore, with its cathedral, a plain erection containing a Romanesque doorway brought from the abbey of Trinity Island, Lough Oughter. The bishopric dates from about 1450. A portion of a round tower is seen in the churchyard of the parish of Drumlane at Belturbet.

CAVAN, a market-town and the county town of Co. Cavan, Ireland, near the centre of the county, in the west parliamentary division, 85-1/2 m. N.W. of Dublin by the Midland Great Western railway, and the terminus of a branch of the Great Northern railway from Clones. Pop. of urban district (1901), 2822. It is on one of the tributary streams of the Annalee river, in a broad valley surrounded on every side by elevated ground, with picturesque environs, notably the demesnes of Farnham and of Kilmore, which belongs to the bishops of that diocese. Cavan has no buildings of antiquarian interest, but the principal county institutions are here, and the most conspicuous building is the grammar school, founded by Charles I. It was rebuilt in 1819 on an eminence overlooking one of the main entrances into the town, and is capable of accommodating 100 resident pupils. The college of St Patrick is near the town. Cavan has some linen trade, and a considerable retail business is transacted in the town. A monastery of Dominican friars, founded by O'Reilly, chieftain of the Brenny, formerly existed here, and became the burial-place of the celebrated Irish general, Owen O'Neill, who died as is supposed by poison, in 1649, at Cloughoughter. There was also the castle of the O'Reillys, but this and all other antiquities of the town were swept away during the violent and continuous feuds to which the country was subjected. In 1690 the chief portion of the town was burned by the Enniskilleners under General Wolseley, when they routed a body of James II.'s troops under the duke of Berwick.

CAVANILLES, ANTONIO JOSE (1745-1804), Spanish botanist, was born at Valencia on the 16th of January 1745. He was educated at the university of that town, and in 1777 went to Paris, where he resided twelve years, engaged in the study of botany. In 1801 he became director of the botanic gardens at Madrid, where he died on the 4th of May 1804. In 1785-1786 he published _Monadelphiae Classis Dissertationes X._, and in 1791 he began to issue _Icones et descriptiones plantarum Hispaniae_.

His nephew, ANTONIO CAVANILLES (1805-1864), was a distinguished advocate, and the author of a history of Spain, published at Madrid in 1860-1864.

CAVATINA (Ital. diminutive of _cavata_, the producing of tone from an instrument, plural _cavatine_), originally a short song of simple character, without a second strain or any repetition of the air. It is now frequently applied to a simple melodious air, as distinguished from a brilliant aria, recitative, &c., and often forms part of a large movement or _scena_ in oratorio or opera.

CAVE, EDWARD (1691-1754), English printer, was born at Newton, Warwickshire, on the 27th of February 1691. His father, Joseph Cave, was of good family, but the entail of the family estate being cut off, he was reduced to becoming a cobbler at Rugby. Edward Cave entered the grammar school of that town, but was expelled for robbing the master's hen-roost. After many vicissitudes he became apprentice to a London printer, and after two years was sent to Norwich to conduct a printing house and publish a weekly paper. While still a printer he obtained a place in the post office, and was promoted to be clerk of the franks. He was at this time engaged in supplying London newsletters to various country papers; and his enemies, who had twice summoned him before the House of Commons for breach of privilege, now accused him of opening letters to obtain his news, and he was dismissed the service. With the capital which he had saved, he set up a small printing office at St John's Gate, Clerkenwell, which he carried on under the name of R. Newton. He had long formed a scheme of a magazine "to contain the essays and intelligence which appeared in the two hundred half-sheets which the London press then threw off monthly," and had tried in vain to persuade some publisher to take it up. In 1731 he himself put it into execution, and began the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (see PERIODICALS), of which he was the editor, under the pseudonym "Sylvanus Urban, Gent." The magazine had a large circulation and brought a fortune to the projector. In 1732 he began to issue reports of the debates in both Houses of Parliament. He commissioned friends to note the speeches, which he published with the initial and final letters of personal names. In 1738 Cave was censured by parliament for printing the king's answer to an address before it had been announced by the speaker. From that time he called his reports the debates of a "parliament in the empire of Lilliput" (see REPORTING). To piece together and write out the speeches for this publication was Samuel Johnson's first literary employment. In 1747 Cave was reprimanded for publishing an account of the trial of Lord Lovat, and the reports were discontinued till 1752. He died on the 10th of January 1754. Cave published Dr Johnson's _Rambler_, and his _Irene, London_ and _Life of Savage_, and was the subject of a short biography by him.

CAVE, WILLIAM (1637-1713), English divine, was born at Pickwell in Leicestershire. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, and successively held the livings of Islington (1662), of All-Hallows the Great, Thames Street, London (1679), and of Isleworth in Middlesex (1690). Dr Cave was chaplain to Charles II., and in 1684 became a canon of Windsor. The two works on which his reputation principally rests are the _Apostolici_, or History of Apostles and Fathers in the first three centuries of the Church (1677), and _Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Literaria_ (1688). The best edition of the latter is the Clarendon Press, 1740-1743, which contains additions by the author and others. In both works he was drawn into controversy with Jean le Clerc, who was then writing his _Bibliotheque universelle_, and who accused him of partiality. He wrote several other works of the same nature which exhibit scholarly research and lucid arrangement. He is said to have been a good talker and an eloquent preacher. His death occurred at Windsor on the 4th of July 1713.

CAVE (Lat. _cavea_, from _cavus_, hollow), a hollow extending beneath the surface of the earth. The word "cavern" (Lat. _caverna_) is practically a synonym, though a distinction is sometimes drawn between sea caves and inland caverns, but the term "cave" is used here as a general description. Caves have excited the awe and wonder of mankind in all ages, and have been the centres round which have clustered many legends and superstitions. They were the abode of the sibyls and the nymphs in Roman mythology, and in Greece they were the temples of Zeus, Pan, Dionysus, Pluto and the Moon, as well as the places where the oracles were delivered at Delphi, Corinth and Mount Cithaeron. In Persia they were connected with the obscure worship of Mithras. Their names frequently are survivals of the superstitious ideas of antiquity, as, for example, the Fairy, Dragon's, or Devil's Caves of France and Germany. Long after the Fairies and Little Men had forsaken the forests and glens of Germany, they dwelt in their palaces deep in the Harz Mountains, in the Dwarfholes, &c., whence they came from time to time into the upper air.

The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus slept their long sleep in a cave. The hills of Granada are still believed by the Moorish children to contain the great Boabdil and his sleeping host, who will awake, when an adventurous mortal invades their repose, to restore the glory of the Moors in Spain.

Caves have been used in all ages by mankind for habitation, refuge and burial. In the Old Testament we read that when Lot went up out of Zoar he dwelt in a cave with his two daughters. The five kings of the Canaanites took refuge from Joshua, and David from Saul, in the caves of Palestine, just as the Aquitani fled from Caesar to those of Auvergne, and the Arabs of Algeria to those of Dahra, where they were suffocated by Marshal Pelissier in 1845. In Central Africa David Livingstone discovered vast caves in which whole tribes found security with their cattle and household stuff.

The cave of Machpelah may be quoted as an example of their use as sepulchres, and the rock-hewn tombs of Palestine and of Egypt and the Catacombs of Rome probably owe their existence to the ancient practice of burial in natural hollows in the rock. We might therefore expect to find in them most important evidence as to the ancient history of mankind, which would reach long beyond written record; and since they have always been used by wild beasts as lairs we might reasonably believe also that their exploration would throw light upon the animals which have in many cases disappeared from the countries which they formerly inhabited. The labours of Buckland, Pengelly, Falconer, Lartet and Christy, and Boyd Dawkins have added an entirely new chapter to the history of man in Europe, as well as established the changes that have taken place in the European fauna. The physical history of caves will be taken first, and we shall then pass on to the discoveries relating to man and the lower animals which have been made in them of late years.

_Physical History._--The most obvious agent in hollowing out caves is the sea. The set of the currents, the force of the breakers, the grinding of the shingle inevitably discover the weak places in the cliff, and leave caves as one of the results of their work, modified in each case by the local conditions of the rock. Those formed in this manner are easily recognized from their floors being rarely much out of the horizontal; their entrances are all in the same plane, or in a succession of horizontal and parallel planes, if the land has been elevated at successive times. From their inaccessible position they have been rarely occupied by man. Among them Fingal's Cave, on the island of Staffa, off the south-west coast of Scotland, hollowed out of columnar basalt, is perhaps the most remarkable in Europe. In volcanic regions also there are caves formed by the passage of lava to the surface of the ground, or by the expansion of steam and gases in the lava while it was in a molten state. They have been observed in the regions round Vesuvius and Etna, in Iceland and Teneriffe. We may take as an example the Grotto del Cane ("cave of the dog"), near Pozzuoli, a few miles to the south-west of Naples, remarkable for the flow of carbonic acid from crevices in the floor, which fills the lower part of the cave and suffocates any small animal, such as a dog, immersed long enough in it.

The most important class of caves, however, and that which immediately demands our notice, is that composed of those which have been cut out of calcareous rocks by the action of carbonic acid in the rain-water, combined with the mechanical friction of the sand and stones set in motion by the streams which have, at one time or another, flowed through them. They occur at various levels, and are to be met with wherever the strata are sufficiently compact to support a roof. Those of Brixham and Torquay and of the Eifel are in the Devonian limestone; those of Wales, Somerset, the Pennine chain, Ireland, the central and northern counties of Belgium, Saxony, and Westphalia, of Maine and Anjou, of Virginia and Kentucky, are in that of the Carboniferous age. The cave of Kirkdale in Yorkshire, and most of those in Franconia and Bavaria, penetrate Jurassic limestones. The Neocomian and Cretaceous limestones contain most of the caverns of France, rendered famous by the discovery of the remains of the cave-men along with the animals which they hunted; as well as those of the Pyrenees, the Alps, Sicily, Greece, Dalmatia, Carniola and Palestine. The cave of Lunelviel near Montpellier is the most important of those which have been hollowed in limestones of the Tertiary age. They are also met with in rocks composed of gypsum; in Thuringia, for example, they occur in the saliferous and gypseous strata of the Zechstein, and in the gypseous Tertiary rocks of the neighbourhood of Paris, as, for example, at Montmorency.

Caves formed by the action of carbonic acid and the action of water are distinguished from others by the following characters. They open on the abrupt sides of valleys and ravines at various levels, and are arranged round the main axes of erosion, just as the branches are arranged round the trunk of a tree. In a great many cases the relation of the valley to the ravine, and of the ravine to the cave, is so intimate that it is impossible to deny that all three have been produced by the same causes. The caves themselves ramify in the same irregular fashion as the valleys, and are to be viewed merely as the capillaries in the general valley system through which the rain passes to join the main channels. Sometimes, as in the famous caves of Adelsberg, Kentucky, Wookey Hole in Somersetshire, the Peak in Derbyshire, and in many in the Jura, they are still the passages of subterranean streams; but very frequently the drainage has found an outlet at a lower level, and the ancient watercourses have been deserted. These in every case present unmistakable proof that they have been traversed by water in the sand, gravel and clay which they contain, as well as in the worn surfaces of the sides and bottom. In all districts where there are caves there are funnel-shaped depressions of various sizes called pot-holes or swallow-holes, or betoires, "chaldrons du diable," "marmites des geants," or "katavothra," in which the rain is collected before it disappears into the subterranean passages. They are to be seen in all stages, some being mere hollows which only contain water after excessive rain, while others are profound vertical shafts into which the water is continually falling. Gaping Ghyl, 330 ft., and Helln Pot in Yorkshire, 300 ft. deep, are examples of the latter class. The _cirques_ described by M. Desnoyers belong to the same class as the swallow-holes.

The history of swallow-holes, caves, ravines and valleys in calcareous strata may be summed up as follows:--The calcareous rocks are invariably traversed by joints or lines of shrinkage, which are lines of weakness by which the direction of the drainage is determined; and they are composed to a large extent of carbonate of lime, which is readily exchanged into soluble bicarbonate by the addition of carbonic acid. The rain in its passage through the air takes up carbonic acid, and it is still further charged with it in percolating through the surface soil in which there is decomposing vegetable matter. As the raindrops converge towards some one point, determined by some local accident on the surface, and always in a line of joint, the carbonic acid attacks the carbonate of lime with which it comes into contact, and thus a funnel is gradually formed ending in the vertical joint below. Both funnel and vertical joint below are being continually enlarged by this process. This chemical action goes on until the free carbonic acid is used up. The subterranean passages are enlarged in this manner, and what was originally an insignificant network of fissures is developed into a series of halls, sometimes as much as from 80 to 100 ft. high. These results are considerably furthered by the mechanical friction of the pebbles and sand hurried along by the current, and by falls of rock from the roof produced by the removal of the underlying strata. In many cases the results of this action have produced a regular subterranean river system. The thick limestones of Kentucky, for example, are traversed by subterranean waters which collect in large rivers, and ultimately appear at the surface in full power. The river Axe, near Wells, the stream flowing out of the Peak Cavern at Castleton, Derbyshire, that at Adelsberg in Carniola, flow out of caverns in full volume. The river Styx and the waters of Acheron disappear in a series of caverns which were supposed to lead down to the infernal regions.

If the direction of the drainage in the rock has been altered, either by elevations such as those with which the geologist is familiar, or by the opening out of new passages at a lower level, these watercourses become dry, and present us with the caves which have afforded shelter to man and the wild animals from the remotest ages, sometimes high up on the side of a ravine, at other times close to the level of the stream at the bottom.

Caves, as a general rule, are as little effected by disturbances of the rock as the ravines and valleys, which have been formed, in the main, irrespective of the lines of fault or dislocation.

We must now examine what happens to the bicarbonate of lime which has been formed by the action of the acid on the limestone. If a current of air play upon the surface of the water, the carbonic acid, which floats up the lime, so to speak, is given off and the insoluble carbonate is deposited, and as a result of this action we have the elaborate and fantastic stony incrustations termed stalactites and stalagmites. The water percolating through the rock covers the sides of the cavern with a stalactitic drapery, and if a line of drops persistently falls from the same point to the floor, the calcareous deposit gradually descends from the roof, forming in some cases stony tassels, and in others long columns which are ultimately united to the calcareous boss formed by the plash of the water on the floor. The surface also of the pools is sometimes covered over with an ice-like sheet of stalagmite, which shoots from the sides, and sometimes forms a solid and firm floor when the water on which it was supported has disappeared. Sometimes the drops form a little calcareous basin, beautifully polished inside, which contains small pearl-like particles of carbonate of lime, polished by friction one against the other. The most beautiful stalactitic caves in Great Britain are those of Cheddar in Somerset, Caldy Island and Poole's Cavern at Buxton. A portion only of the carbonate of lime is thus deposited in the hollows of the rock from which it was taken; the rest is carried into the open air by the streams, in part deposited on the sides and bottom, forming tufa and the so-called petrifications, and partly being conveyed down to the sea to be ultimately secreted in the tissues of the Mollusca, Echinodermata and Foraminifera. Through these it is again collected in a solid form, and in the long course of ages it is again lifted up above the level of the water as limestone rock, and again undergoes the same series of changes. Thus the cycle of carbonate of lime is a neverending one from the land to the ocean, from the ocean to the land, and so it has been ever since the first stratum of limestone was formed out of the remains of the animals and plants of the sea. The rate of the accumulation of stalagmite in caverns is necessarily variable, since it is determined by the presence of varying currents of air. In the Ingleborough cavern a stalagmite, measured in 1839 and in 1873, is growing at the rate of .2946 in. per annum. It is obvious, therefore, that the vast antiquity of deposits containing remains of man underneath layers of stalagmite cannot be inferred from a thickness of a few inches or even of a few feet.

The intimate relation which exists between caves and ravines renders it extremely probable that many of the latter have been originally subterranean watercourses, which have been unroofed by the degradation of the rock. In all limestone districts ravines are to be found continued in the same direction as the caves, and the process of atmospheric erosion may be seen in the fallen blocks of stone which generally are to be met with at the mouths of the caverns. In illustration of this the valley and caves of Weathercote, in Yorkshire, may be quoted, or the source of the Axe at Wookey; and the ravine formed in this way has very frequently been widened out into a valley by the action of subaerial waste, or by the grinding of glaciers through it during the glacial stage of the Pleistocene period.

For further details as to the physical history of caverns we must
refer the reader to the works quoted at the end of this article, by
E.A. Martel, the intrepid explorer of most of the large European
caves, including those of Great Britain and Ireland. The history of
the _Glacieres_ or Ice-caves will be found in Browne's _Ice Caves in
France and Switzerland_.

_Classification._--The caves which have offered shelter to the _mammalia_ are classified according to their contents, and are of various ages, ranging from the Pliocene to the present day. (1) Those containing the Pliocene _mammalia_ belong to that age. (2) Those with the remains of the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros and other extinct species, or with paleolithic man (see ARCHAEOLOGY), are termed Pleistocene. These are sometimes called Quaternary, under the mistaken idea that they belong to an age succeeding the Tertiary period. (3) Those which contain the remains of the domestic animals in association with the remains of man either in the Neolithic, Bronze or Iron stages of civilization are termed Prehistoric. (4) The fourth group consists of those which can be brought into relation with the historic period, and are therefore termed Historic.

_The Pliocene Caves._--It is a singular fact, only to be explained by the vast denudation of the earth's surface since the Pliocene Age, that only one cave referable to that age has as yet been discovered, that at Doveholes near Buxton, Derbyshire, described by Boyd Dawkins in 1903 (_Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._). The cave consists of a large horizontal chamber and a small passage, connected with a swallow-hole close by, and exposed in the working face of a quarry in 1901, at a depth of about 40 ft. from the surface. The locality is in the limestone plateau, 1158 ft. high, which forms the divide between the waters flowing into the Mersey on the west and the Humber on the east. Both swallow-hole and cave were completely blocked up with debris, and the latter was filled with red and yellow clay, horizontally stratified and containing pebbles of sandstone from the neighbouring ridge of Axe Edge, and bones and teeth of fossil mammals, some waterworn and others without traces of transport by water. All the mammals belong to well-known species found in the Pliocene strata of East Anglia, and in Auvergne and Italy. Among them were the sabre-toothed lion (_Machairodus crenatidens_), the hyena of Auvergne, the mastodon, and the southern elephant (_E. meridionalis_), and rhinoceros (_R. Etruscus_), and Steno's horse. Most of the bones had evidently been gnawed by hyenas and accumulated in one of their dens, and had afterwards been carried by water into the chambers deep down in the rock, where they were found. Since that time the general level of the district has been lowered by denudation to an extent of more than 230 ft., and all the hyena dens destroyed with the Pliocene surface not only in this district but generally over the world. In this case a covering of limestone some 270 ft. thick, including the depth from the present surface, protected the remains from the denuding forces.

_The Pleistocene Caves._--The search after _ebur fossile_ or unicorns' horn, or in other words the fossil bones which ranked high in the _materia medica_ of the 16th and 17th centuries, led to the discovery of the ossiferous caverns of the Harz Mountains, and of Hungary and Franconia. The famous cave of Gailenreuth in the last of these districts was explored by Goldfuss in 1810. The bones of the hyena, lion, wolf, fox and stag, which it contained, were identified by Baron Cuvier, and some of the skulls have been proved by Busk to belong to the grizzly bear. They were associated with the bones of the reindeer, horse and bison, as well as with those of the great cave bear. These discoveries were of very great interest, because they established the fact that the above animals had lived in Germany in ancient times. The first bone cave systematically explored in England was one at Oreston near Plymouth in 1816, which proved that an extinct species of rhinoceros (_R. leptorhinus_) lived in that district. Four years later the famous hyena den at Kirkdale in Yorkshire was explored by Buckland. He brought forward proof that it had been inhabited by hyenas, and that the broken and gnawed bones of the mammoth, rhinoceros, stag, bison and horse belonged to animals which had been dragged in for food. He pointed out that all these animals had lived in Yorkshire in ancient times, and that it was impossible for the carcases of the rhinoceros, hyena and mammoth to have been floated from tropical regions into the places where he found their bones. He subsequently investigated bone caves in Derbyshire, South Wales and Somerset, as well as in Germany, and published his _Reliquiae Diluvianae_ in 1822, a work which laid the foundations of the new science of cavehunting in this country. The well-known cave of Kent's Hole near Torquay furnished McEnery, between the years 1825 and 1841, with the first flint implements discovered in intimate association with the bones of extinct animals. He recognized the fact that they proved the existence of man in Devonshire while those animals were alive, but the idea was too novel to be accepted by his contemporaries. His discoveries have since been verified by the subsequent investigations carried on by Godwin Austen, and ultimately by the committee of the British Association, which worked for several years under the guidance of Pengelly. There are four distinct strata in the cave. 1st, The surface is composed of dark earth, and contains medieval remains, Roman pottery and articles which prove that it was in use during the Iron, Bronze and Neolithic Ages. 2nd, Below this is a stalagmite floor, varying in thickness from 1 to 3 ft., and covering (3rd) the red earth, which contained bones of the hyena, lion, mammoth, rhinoceros and other animals, in association with flint implements and an engraved antler, which proved man to have been an inhabitant of the cavern during the time of its deposition. 4th, Filling the bottom of the cave is a hard breccia, with the remains of bears and flint implements, in the main ruder than those found above; in some places it was no less than 12 ft. thick. The most remarkable animal found in Kent's Hole is the sabre-toothed carnivore, _Machairodus latidens_ of Owen. While the value of McEnery's discoveries was in dispute the exploration of the cave of Brixham near Torquay in 1858 proved that man was coeval with the extinct mammalia, and in the following year additional proof was offered by the implements that were found in Wookey Hole. Similar remains have been met with in the caves explored since that time in Wales, and in England as far north as Derbyshire (Creswell), proving that palaeolithic man hunted the mammoth and rhinoceros and other extinct animals over the whole of southern and middle England.