t'" 



16 



The whole of this part of the country abound- 

 ing with morasses, it is the custom of the farmers 

 to assist each other in turns with personal or 

 specific labour, each man giving a route or fro- 

 lick on the occasion, in order to obtain a large 

 quantity of their contents for manure. Pits are 

 dug generally twelve feet long and five feet 

 wide. It was in digging one of these, on the 

 farm of Mr. Masten, that one of the men, in 

 thursting his spade deeper than usual, struck 

 something which he imagined to be a log of 

 wood, but on cutting it to ascertain the kind, it 

 was perceived to be bone : it was quickly cleared 

 from the surrounding earth, and proved to be 

 that of the thigh, three feet nine inches in length, 

 and eighteen inches in circumference in the 

 smallest part. The search was continued, and 

 the same evening several other bones were dis- 

 covered. The fame of it soon spread through 

 the neighbourhood, and excited a general in- 

 terest ip the pursuit ; and all were eager, at the 

 expence of some exertions, to gratify their cu- 

 riosity, to see the ruins of an animal so gigantic, 

 of which few among thern had ever heard. For 

 the two succeeding days upwards of an hundred 

 men were actively engaged, encouraged by se- 

 veral gentlemen, chiefly physicians, of the 

 neighbourhopd, and success the most sanguine 



