N'OTES ON nUG-OUT BOATS. 163 



Much interest was taken in the demonstration, and there was a general 

 expression of opinion that Lady Warwick's experiment went a long way to 

 solve the difficulty of technical instruction in rural districts. 



The visitors were afterwards entertained to tea, the appreciation of it 

 being inhanced by the rumour that the excellent light refreshments had been 

 made by the cookery students in the school itself. 



NOTES ON "DUG-OUT" BOATS IN THE 

 ANCIENT MARSHES OF THE LEA AND 

 THE THAMES. 



Referring to Mr. T. V. Holmes' paper, " Geological Notes 

 on the New Reservoirs in the Valley of the Lea, near Waltham- 

 stow," in the last part of the Essex Naturalist, it seems desir- 

 able to add to the account of the " dug-out " canoe therein given 

 (ante pp. ii, 12), some details extracted from Mr. W. Traill's 

 paper in The Reliquary and Illustvated Archaologist for January, 

 igoi, and to supplement this by an account of a similar boat 

 found in the mud of the old Thames a few years ago. 



The Lea boat was found on October 30th, igoo, atadepthof 

 about six feet from tlje surface, lying almost due north and 

 south, with the bow towards the south, and seems to have been 

 drawn up on the bank of an old river. It was resting on a bed 

 (5 ins. thick) of fine, sandy silt mixed with fresh-water shells, at 

 a level uf 21 fc. above ordnance datum. The geological position 

 in which the canoe lay has already be stated, and its appearance 

 both in situ and when placed on the trolley for removal, is well 

 shown in the illustrations accompanying Mr. Holmes' paper. 



It had evidently been hollowed out of the trunk of an oak 

 tree. Mr. Traill took the principal dimensions as follows : — 

 Extreme length, 14ft. loin. ; extreme breadth, 2ft. 4in. ; extreme 

 depth, ift. 4ins. ; extreme depth inside, itt. i^ins. ; thickness of 

 timber at gunwale, fin. 



" Both ends are rounded, but the sides are almost at right 

 angles to the flat bcttom. Eight feet from the stern a 

 strengthening rib has been left in, 6ins. wide and yins. deep, and 

 3ft. Sins, nearer the bow a small rib has also been left in. On 

 the right side of the stern a hole ^ of an inch in diameter has 

 been drilled vertically through the gunwale. An oak peg has 

 been fitted into this, and cut off to the slope of the outside and 



