142 Mr. G. Clark's Account of his Discover!/ 



Ayres that alluvial deposits were the only spots which I thought 

 likely to contain bones of the Dodo, pointing out to him a delta 

 of many acres in extent, formed by the united deposits of three 

 rivers running into the harbour of Mahebourg, suggesting that, 

 by dredging deeply in that mass of alluvium, interesting remains 

 might probably be found. 



My attention having thus been drawn to the subject, I passed 

 in review the various localities in my neighbourhood which 

 might offer the most favourable conditions to encourage re- 

 seai'ch. A marsh about three miles from Mahebourg struck me 

 as a promising spot, and I mentioned it as such to several of 

 my friends ; but my time being very fully occupied, and my 

 means restricted, I took no steps to verify my suppositions, 

 promising myself, however, to do so at some future period. 

 In September last, some of my scholars, who well know the in- 

 terest I take in natural history, informed me that a number of 

 Tortoise-bones had been turned up in a marsh much of the 

 same description as that I had noticed. I repaired to this spot, 

 called "La Mare aux Songes,"* and mentioned to Mr. de Bissy, 

 proprietor of the Plaisance estate, of which this marsh forms 

 part, my hope that, as the bones of one extinct member of the 

 fauna of Mauritius had been found there, those of another and 

 a much more interesting one might also turn up. 



He was nmch pleased with the suggestion, and authorized me 

 to take anything I might find there, and to give orders to his 

 workmen to put aside for me any bones they might find. They 

 were then employed in digging up a sort of peat on the margin of 

 this marsh, to be used as manure; and in this they had found a 

 great number of Tortoise-bones of various kinds, with one nearly 

 entire carapace, and also one or two antlers of the Deer now 

 existing in Mauritius f- Some days after, a person picked up 

 among the Tortoise-bones a piece of the shaft of a tibia about 

 four inches long, evidently the bone of a bird. 



This, of course, quickened my hopes ; and after many fruit- 

 less visits to the spot, and inspection of the bones turned up as 



* " Songe" is the local name of the Calidium esculentum. 

 t [This Deer has been stated by Mv.Blyth (Ibis, 1862, p. 92) to be the 

 Cervusrusa, introduced from Java. — Ed.] 



