The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-06-24
SECRETS OF UNDERGROUND LONDON

Whenever excava tons are made In
London there is never any lack of relies
Forthcoming which tend to prove the an
tiquity of the city. More than that,
relics are often found which give some
idea of the kind Of human beings and
animals which inhabited the lar even
before London was city, and at
period almost beyond the reach of the
history book. 1t Is hard to believe that
at one time London was the playground
of the mammoth, and that on the banks
of the Thames crocodiles basked In the
sun. Such, however, was the case, as is
proved by the relics which have been dug
up In London. But at that time the
climate was infinitely hotter than it Is
now. Crocodles are known to have
swarmed around the coast, and 1t not
infrequently happens that the bones OF
these creatures in petrified state are
recovered from the blue clay beneath the
Thames, on more than one occasion at a
no greater distance than 20 feet below the
surface mammoth tooth was diseov-
cred recently when excavations were be
ing made for the new war Office at White
Hail. The mammoth tooth Is broader than
that of the elephant and has the traverse
RIDGES (WHlCu arc puitiNh'AAAy N-N~-
this specimen more closely set. This pars
tlcular specimen weighs upwards OF three
pounds. The idea of mammoth stalk
ing about in the metropolis Is very incon-
gruous with the London of the twentieth
century, but in the opinion OF experts
mammoths were never common In this
country, for their remains are but seldom
found. The general superstition Is that
"a m f0tnad
France the mammoth came here at GER
tain seasons Of the year, and then re-
turned to the cold regions of Siberia,
where the remains of these creatures are
SO common among the Ice drifts.
The tusk of the mammoth Is usually
nine feet long and contains 100 pounds
OF ivory. Not far away from where this
mammoth's tooth was found a pair of
decaying elk horns were discovered. Now
the elk has not been known in this coun-
try for more than 1000 years, but what
makes the pair of horns found in White
hall more remarkable is that they are not
the horns of a Norwegian elk, but are
much larger. From time to time remains
of an enormous species of elk which long
since become extinct have been found In
England and from them experts have been
able to judge that the length OF this
Deost must nave Deen somewhere uDoul
so feet. 1t Is not unlikely that the horns
which underground London has yielded
up in this prosaic century are those OF
denizen of the vast forests which are
known to have bordered the Thames be-
fore the building of London. Sometime
ago a man at Plaistow, In digging into
the walls of his cellar to brick up some
wine, was surprised to find his pickax
strike into some cavity behind the wall,
and on further inspection he found that
he had revealed a hidden passage. With
out waiting to seek assistance. he took
his candle and began to cautiously de-
scend. In the distance he could hear the
falnt trinkle Of running water and the
walls of the passage were Shiny and wet.
After going for considerable distance
into the bowels of The earth, he came
upon what appeared to be n room. He
soon discovered. however, that what he
had mistaken for an ordinary room had
at some unknown age been a place of
worship. At one end was an altar, and
scattered everywhere were stone Jars
and bottles and various metal trinkets.
1t was Impossible. from the articles
found there. to exactly place the age Of
this subterranean chapel. 1t 10 one of
those secrets Of underground London
which in these days we can do no more
than guess at. But the probability Is that