— 37 — 



The second letter endfi thus : — 



'' You shall receue a iarr of India gingei^ for my sisteJ 

 " your wife as also some beades foa my Cosins your daugh- 

 '' ters, and witliall a strange fowle : which I had at the Hand 

 " mauritius called by y*^ portingalls a DoDo : which for the 

 " aareness thereof I hope will be welcome to you. 



"mauritius j"" 18th of June 1628 : your most louiug bro- 

 " ther. 



" Emanuel Altham." 



This letter is superscribed : — 



" To y*^ right vvoor my most Louinge brother S^' Edward 

 " Atham Dwelling at marke hall is Essex. 



" Per a frend whome god preserve. 



" Leaae lliis at one william watson's House in ye minories 

 " a gnnsraitli to be sente as above saide." 



As to the genuiness of these letters there can be no sus- 

 picion. Dr Wilinot tells me that shey form part of a cor- 

 respondence between various members of the Athdam family 

 which a few years ago came into his charge as executor to 

 the will of a lady connected with that family, that they have 

 doubtless been always in safe keeping, and that they have 

 never been in tho hands of a dealer. The two letters men- 

 tioning the Dodo have been shown by me to my friend Mr 

 Bradshaw, the Librarian of th'? University of Cambridge, 

 well known as a skilful! palteographer, who, from the eviden- 

 ce of the haudwriting, paper, and other indicia, chiefly ap- 

 preciated by exports, declares them to be of the period to 

 which their dates assign them. 



Whether tliis Dodo reached England alive there is no- 

 thing to show. The oidy letter in the corr-espondence from 



