82 The Irish Naturalist. 



the first to be noted within the municipal boundary of the 

 city. In i860, when the sewer through which the Farset, or 

 High Street river, flows was re-built in Castle Place, a large 

 number of antiquities were dug up, but amongst them the 

 only bones were a human skeleton and a boar's tusk. 



There are some features of special interest to be noted with 

 regard to this latest discovery of animal remains. They were 

 lying almost on the surface of the estuarine clay or " sleech," 

 and the Irish Elk, horse, and sheep bones were found close 

 together as if either swept down by some flood or possibly 

 deposited in situ by human agency. This latter supposition 

 is strengthened by the remarkable appearance of some of the 

 larger bones, which apparently have been broken into short 

 lengths to extract the marrow. They resemble in this respect 

 the bones so treated by the cave-men and the Swiss lake- 

 dwellers. Prof. Cunningham has kindly promised to look 

 carefully over these bones again, as he could only give them a 

 hasty examination. 



It is of importance to note that in 1868 a deposit of similar 

 geological age was met with at the Clowney River, where 

 the Broadway Factory now stands ; and amongst the bones of 

 the Red Deer dug up two were found with artificial markings 

 where flint tools had been at work. 



Another recently discovered relic of the past may be men- 

 tioned as occurring in the same stratum of the estuarine 

 deposits about half a mile distant from Castle Place. I refer 

 to the supposed canoe which was cut through in driving sheet 

 piles at the Council waste ground near Albert Bridge, where 

 Messrs. Workman & Co. have a section of the main sewer in 

 construction. On visiting the place last December with Mr. 

 I,. M. Ewart, J. P., M.R.I. A., we saw at a depth often feet the 

 trunk of an oak tree, four feet in diameter, which was ex- 

 cavated or burnt out on the upper side like a canoe. A piece 

 was cut out of the centre by the piles, and measured 6£ feet 

 long by 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep. The thickness of 

 the side was not more than 6 inches, and the wood was 

 sound in the middle. The two extremities of the tree were 

 then undisturbed in the "sleech," but I understand that one 

 end has now been laid bare, and it forks off into two branches. 

 As the other end is still covered it might show visible signs of 

 a canoe in process of manufacture, if exposed. 



