62 Mr W. M. Rice's account of an ancient Vessel 



The lines on a piece of oak slab are very curious, and pro- 

 bably a merchant''s mark ; but I am at a loss to know if it con- 

 sists of definable letters or characters, or merely hierosjlyphics. 



Various articles were found in the after-cabin : such as a cir- 

 cular board of oak, with twenty-eight holes through it, which 

 probably had been used as an almanack or score table ; two 

 earthen vases of a reddish brown colour, glazed inside, and 

 standing upon three feet, and of the capacity of 5 pints each ; 

 another vase of a dark slate colour, with similar legs, unglazed, 

 and about the measure of 1 7 pints ; all of which had evidently 

 been used on the fire for cooking: a stone jug, very rudely 

 formed, holding rather more than a pint ; several bricks of cu- 

 rious manufacture, and some pieces of glazed and ornamented 

 tiles, set up as a fire-hearth ; a sounding-lead of an octangular 

 form, about eight inches long; and a small glass bottle of an- 

 cient and singular shape, 3 inches in height. 



Some human and other bones were found in the cabin ; and 

 part of the skull of a child, with a thigh and several smaller bones 

 have been preserved, together with parts of a skeleton of a 

 grown person. In the midship part were found the thigh and 

 leg bones, and several vertebrae of the back-bone of some large 

 animal, thought to be a horse or cow, the horns and part of the 

 skull of a sheep or goat, and the lower jav^bone of a boar, with 

 its teeth and tusk ; no other part of this last animal was found, 

 so that most probably these were a part of the provisions of 

 the vessel, as also the breast-bone of some large bird. Near the 

 vessel, in the sand, was dug up a human skull, very black, with 

 other parts of a skeleton ; and by the side of it, the skeleton of a 

 dog, the skull and a few small bones of which have been pre- 

 served. 



Several shoes or sandals were found, both in and round about 

 the vessel; among which is a child's slipper, of an unusual 

 shape, with a cork sole ; but of the various articles found of 

 this kind there are none which give a clue to any date.* 



• The finding of this slipper has by some persons been adduced in ar- 

 gument against the vessel's antiquity ; but it is well known that cork was 

 used for this purpose among the Romans in winter. Pliny says, the wo- 

 men more especially used cork soles in winter: — 



** Usus prteterea in hiberno femindrum calccatu.' 



