946 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
in whieh ease he would naturally be drowned. The flax fibre, too, would 
be a very natural substance for a dog to drag in to make a warm, comfort- 
able bed of. 
*I am only putting forward such suggestions as occur to me. Of 
course, if any reasonable means can be shown by which the bones might 
have been artificially deposited in the tree; or, if it is certain that, at the 
period when the tree was deposited in its present position, no Phormium 
existed, my suppositions would be unjustifiable. 
“It was during last winter that two of Captain Good’s sons, having 
gone down, as they frequently did, to this place to fish, first noticed what 
seemed a bit of bone projecting from the sand. In all probability the 
winter rains had shortly before caused a slip, the remains of which are 
still visible, and so exposed this fragment. The boys, with a bit of stick, 
dug out the upper portion of the skull, and took it home as a curiosity, 
neither thinking of searching any further, nor noticing that the sand was only 
the core of a hollow tree. It was some six weeks or two months afterwards 
that I first saw the skull: and, after hearing how and where it had been 
found, took the first opportunity at my disposal of visiting the spot to make 
further search. No mention of the discovery had been made to any one, 
except myself, outside of Captain Good's own family, and no one had 
apparently, or as far as I could ascertain, visited the spot since the boys' 
discovery of the skull. Indeed, the one who accompanied me was in some 
little doubt as to the exact spot, when we first reached the ledge of blue 
marlstone known as the *fishing rock.' In order that I might have the 
benefit of other judgment besides my own, Mrs. Good and Captain 
Messenger were kind enough to accompany me, and I had also an Armed 
Constabulary man, carrying some tools. 
“ The skull had been found—so the boys told me—lying teeth upper- 
most; and I could see traces of the slight excavation they had made in 
extracting it. As soon as we began to remove the sand, we found we were 
working into the hollow of a tree, and almost immediately found the two 
lower jaw bones; and slightly further in, the other bones, and the matted 
hair; further still, the flax-stick and fibre. 
“ We excavated as far as we safely could—about six feet in,—and eut 
the tree off, without finding any. more animal remains. Although the 
orifiee was becoming much smaller, the tree still continued hollow, and I 
shoved my arm and a flax-stick in, without resistance, for about nine feet 
further. 
“ I think I have now told you all the facts, and I shall be glad to hear 
what conclusion you come to as to the bones and their probable origin. 
