5* 



bottles. After traversing England he went to Scotland, but he 

 found the Scotch " too canny," and his trip there scarcely paid ex- 

 penses; not so his trip to Ireland, which is related in the following 

 extract from an account of his life published in the Malton Mes- 

 senger. " He embarked at Liverpool on a Belfast steamer, and at 

 once, on landing, set about duping the curator of the Belfast Mu- 

 seum, to whom he sold some genuine fossils and several forged 

 flint implements — the latter pleased him much. ' He little 

 thought,' says Jack, 'how plentiful genuine flints were in Ireland.' 

 From Belfast he went to Antrim, Ballymena, Ballymoney, and 

 Coleraine, from whence he visited the Giant's Causeway — spending 

 a Sunday there. He returned to Coleraine and went to London- 

 derry, and made a tour to btrabane, eleven miles up the River 

 Foyle ; then to Lough Neagh, Lurgan, Armagh, Monaghan, Drum- 

 condra, Slane, Drogheda, and Swords, after which he reached 

 Dublin. He says he did well, and saw all the best things in the 

 north of the island, traversing it entirely on foot, and was highly 

 interested in the scenery and fine country. He sometimes collect- 

 ed fossils from the mountain limestone, and sometimes made a few 

 flints ; sometimes he sold a few, and sometimes found a few 

 genuine ones (particularly about Lough Neagh) ; but, when he had 

 got fairly in the way of making flints, he had much rather manu- 

 facture them than pick up the genuine ones for sale. ' Gathering 

 them was a trouble.' ' Ireland,' says he, ' has many a fine celt 

 and hammer, arrow-head and spear, made by * Flint Jack.' " In 

 making this statement it is to be feared "Jack" has made a mistake, 

 particularly with reference to the Belfast Museum, for the curator 

 there never purchases things brought for sale, they are referred to 

 the Council. Mr. Gray related several anecdotes, showing how Jack 

 went about " doing " his victims, and concluded by stating that we 

 had in Ireland several manipulators of the " Flint Jack " type. He 

 explained that the English collectors gave such high prices for 

 Irish antiquities, the vilest forgery was passed off as genuine. 

 With reference to this, Mr. Knowles, of Cullybackey, came to the 

 meeting to give some information. 



