248 



traordinary development of nerves on the end of the bill. 

 They obtain their food by the delicacy of their power of feel- 

 ing, as the Apteryx does by its powers of smelling. 



Professor Graves read the following memorandum in re- 

 ference to the discovery of the remains of a cedar ship, near 

 Tyrella, in the county of Down, by George A. Hamilton, 

 Esq., M. P. : 



" About the year 1796, the late Mr. Hamilton, in pulling 

 down some old buildings at Tyrella, found, to his surprise, 

 that the beams, lintels, &c., were composed of cedar. On in- 

 quiry, he was informed that there was a tradition (for even 

 then it was but a tradition) that a large ship, from the coast of 

 Guinea, laden with slaves, ivory, and gold dust, had been 

 wrecked, a great many years previously, in the Bay of Dun- 

 drum, and a considerable portion of her swallowed up in the 

 sands near Tyrella ; and though the shore, in the lapse of so 

 many years, had undergone considerable changes, there was 

 still a mark known by the country people under the name of 

 * The Cedar Ship.' I remember this well when a child. 

 There were two pieces of wood, covered with sea-weed, to be 

 seen at very low tides, sticking up in the sand. 



"About the year 1815, my father, having collected a num- 

 ber of men, and having made an excavation in the sands, 

 discovered the upper works of the ship, and succeeded in ob- 

 taining six elephants' tusks, a considerable quantity of cedar, 

 a silver goblet, and the remains of chains supposed to be those 

 with which the slaves had been confined. 



" The situation of the wreck being under the level of low 

 water, and the soft oozy nature of the sand rendering the 

 work extremely difficult, prevented his proceeding further 

 with the excavation. 



" On the 10th of November, 1829, it occurred to me to 

 make a similar attempt. The marks of the ship had been 

 long effaced, and I found some difficulty in discovering the 

 place. I succeeded, however, and in one tide I obtained six- 



