80 



was rushing fiom his tent with his gun, when a spear thrown at him 

 pierced his breast, and, penetrating to his lungs, caused internal hae- 

 morrhage ; the only words he špoke vvere these, ' Charlie, take my 

 gun ; they have killed me,' when puUing the spear out -vvith his own 

 hands, he immediately dropped upon the ground lifeless. Little 

 Murphy, who -vvas by his side at the time he Avas speared, fired at the 

 black fello\v vvho speared him ; Brown fired at the mob beating Cal- 

 vert and myself, and they immediately retreated howling and la- 

 menting. Mr, Calvert \vas pierced with five spears, myself withsix, 

 and Gur recovery is to be attributed to the abstemious way in which 

 we lived. After having the spears puUed out, you may imagine our 

 feelings when we heard Charlie exclaim, ' Gilbert is dead ! ' — we could 

 not, would not, believe it. Alas ! the morning brought no better 

 tidings — poor Gilbert was consigned to his lašt and narrow home ; 

 the prayers of the church of England were read over him, and a large 

 fire made upon his grave for the purpose of misleading the blacks, 

 ■vvho, we thought, would probably return and search the camp on our 

 departure. It is impossible to describe the gloom and sorrow this 

 fatal accident cast upon our party. As a companion, none was more 

 cheerful or more agreeable; as a man, none more indefatigable or raore 

 persevering ; but it is useless for me to eulogize one so \vell known 

 to you — one whom you will have cause to regret, and who will ever 

 be remembered by, " Sir, 



" Yours most truly, 



"John Roper." 



The skull of a Seal -vvas exhibited to the meeting, presented by the 

 Society's Corresponding Member, Richard Hill, Esq., vvho refers to 

 it in a letter, dated Spanish Town, Jamaica, July 8, 1846, as "a 

 skull of an undescribed Seal found on the islands and shoals called 

 by the seamen the Pedros, but known as the Vibora Bank on the old 

 Spanish charts, situated about a degree to the south of Jamaica." 



Mr. Hill's letter proceeds : " The most detailed account I can give 

 of this Seal, in addition to the facts presented by an inspection of 

 the cranium, which will be found to have much of the contour and 

 character of that of the Calocephalus of Frederick Cuvier, will com- 

 prise little more than the statement that it has no external auricles : 

 the foramina are so small that all trace of an ear to a casual observer 

 is imperceptible. The colour of the animal is intensely and uni- 

 formly black ; the hair is stifF and close, and very short ; the nails of 

 the hinder claws are rudimentary ; the eyes are large, black and full, 

 and the iris crimson. 



" The measurements of the specimenfrom wbich the cranium sent 

 ■vvas obtained, are the following : — 



ft. in. 

 Totai length along the back from the snout to the tip of the 



tail 4 2 



Length of the tail O 3 



From the snout to the insertion of the fore-paw 1 6 



From the insertion of the fore-paw to that of the hind-paw. . 2 10 



