30 Mr. Henry Walker's Lecture : 



device. Here, upon the south side of High-street, is 

 St- Mary's Hospital, an institution of venerable anti- 

 quity. We can only stay to hear that the hospital was 

 founded by an Abbess of Barking (temi). Stephen) for a 

 prior, a warden, two priests, and thirteen lepers. More, 

 we might learn, but the geologic mind seeks a greater anti- 

 quity than this. We leave St. Mary's Hospital to Lord 

 Salisbury, its present warden, and haste to join our fellow- 

 naturalists, who are far in advance on the Barking Eoad, 



The plan of our expedition is now unfolded, and we 

 learn the designs of our leaders. In this Barking Road, 

 we meet Sir xVntonio Brady, in whose preserves our game 

 is supposed to lie, and who has hunted the country for 

 years. Sir Antonio kindly brings his carriage for the 

 benefit of the fair huntresses who accompany our party. 

 Perchance a tame elephant or two, with houdahs, and 

 gorgeous caparisons, and swarthy turban-clad riders, are 

 not far off, and will take us to the jungle, or wherever our 

 destination may be. We are well furnished with guides. 

 Besides Sir Antonio, who has tracked a good hundred or 

 more of elephants to their home about Ilford in his time, 

 we have a skilled zoologist from the British Museum, one 

 who well knows the old-world fauna of the Thames Valley 

 and their hiding places. 



The word is given by our leaders " To the Uphall Pits 

 on the Barking Road ! " To the Uphall Pits on the Barking 

 Road we go. We have time to note the geography of the 

 district. The Barking Road, which runs due north and 

 south, goes down from Ilford towards the Thames, which 

 is about four miles away. The tributary River Roding, at a 

 little distance to our right, runs parallel with the Barking 

 Road. We are on the eastern slope of the Roding Valley. 

 Suddenly, through a narrow hedgerow gap, our leaders 

 disappear. The game must now be close at hand. Follow- 

 ing our leaders, we find ourselves all unprepared among 

 the celebrated Uphall elephant-pits. The flats along which 

 we have walked have reminded us of the rice and paddy 

 fields of Ceylon, but another vegetation here confronts us. 

 In Indian file we thread our way through ranks of well- 



