AT HANGMAN'S WOOD, GRAYS.
275
6 ft. by 7 ft. 6 in. The footholes in the lower part were placed as
usual, and were of the usual depth; as the shaft got too wide the
holes were placed, one row in an angle and another about the width
of a man's chest on the left of the angle in the broad face. At this
part the holes were very deep, as deep as the whole extent of a
man's arm. In ascending, therefore, when the widening began, the
climber had to throw himself over to one side only, and pass his
arms up to the shoulder, hugging the rock to his body while shifting
the leg and other arm, which, in its turn, hugged the rock. The
descent appeared to be much less agreeable where the critical
change in attitude had to be made. The man who shewed these
old means of ascent and descent was singularly agile. To ordinary
people the process would have been attended with great risk, which
is not the case with the common process. The original shaft was
probably circular and regular from top to bottom. The splaying
out above was clearly the result of a later alteration, and appeared
to be coincident with the irregular enlargement of one of the
originally equal sized caverns below.19
Before storage in pits and silos, the corn is separated from the
ear. It should be most thoroughly dried before it is deposited, and
when this is properly done the corn remains sweet, and retains its
vitality, for several years, as long, in fact, as it does in stacks and
barns, the central part of the store being selected for seed by pre-
ference. Bread has been made on several occasions from corn
buried more than one hundred years, well authenticated instances
of which have occurred in France and other countries of western
Europe. But it would not vegetate. When corn is buried in the rock a
short or a long time, the exterior of the heap becomes more or less
damp, and heats. This either causes actual abortive germination or
mere preliminary fermentation. The result is the formation of a
"croicte" or cake of varying thickness and great density. Its hardness
is so great as to prevent, after a certain thickness has been attained,
the further access of humidity and oxygen to the mass, and even to
permit a man to walk on it without breaking through; the corn
within is practically self-sealed.20 In all ancient hoards this has
19 In a pamphlet by Mr. C. Bird, called "Rochester Deneholes," this shaft is drawn in the
figure as circular from top to bottom. This was not the case, as is above described.
20 In Mr. Holmes's paper on "Some Curious Excavations in the Isle of Portland" (Proc.
Geol. Association, vol. viii., page 408), the production of carbon-dioxide in the grain-pits of South
India by the partial fermentation of the store, is noticed. During the discussion which took
place at the reading of this paper, Prof. Meldola pointed out that the existence of the dioxide in
the closed pits would act as a check to fermentation, and that nothing would more effectually
preserve the mass of the grain than the presence of this gaseous envelope.—Ed.