142 Mr. G. Clark's Account of his Discovery 
Ayres that alluvial deposits were the only spots which I thought 
likely to contain bones of the Dodo, pointing out to him a delta 
of many acres in extent, formed by the united deposits of three 
rivers running into the harbour of Mahebourg, suggesting that, 
by dredging deeply in that mass of alluvium, interesting remains 
might probably be found. 
My attention having thus been drawn to the subject, I passed 
in review the various localities in my neighbourhood which 
might offer the most favourable conditions to encourage re¬ 
search. A marsh about three miles from Mahebourg struck me 
as a promising spot, and I mentioned it as such to several of 
my friends; but my time being very fully occupied, and my 
means restricted, I took no steps to verify my suppositions, 
promising myself, however, to do so at some future period. 
In September last, some of my scholars, who well know the in¬ 
terest I take in natural history, informed me that a number of 
Tortoise-bones had been turned up in a marsh much of the 
same description as that I had noticed. I repaired to this spot, 
called “La Mare aux Songes,”* and mentioned to Mr. de Bissy, 
proprietor of the Plaisance estate, of which this marsh forms 
part, my hope that, as the bones of one extinct member of the 
fauna of Mauritius had been found there, those of another and 
a much more interesting one might also turn up. 
He was much pleased with the suggestion, and authorized me 
to take anything I might find there, and to give orders to his 
workmen to put aside for me any bones they might find. They 
were then employed in digging up a sort of peat on the margin of 
this marsh, to be used as manure; and in this they had found a 
great number of Tortoise-bones of various kinds, with one nearly 
entire carapace, and also one or two antlers of the Deer now 
existing in Mauritius f. Some days after, a person picked up 
among the Tortoise-bones a piece of the shaft of a tibia about 
four inches long, evidently the bone of a bird. 
This, of course, quickened my hopes; and after many fruit¬ 
less visits to the spot, and inspection of the bones turned up as 
* “ Songe” is the local name of the Calidium esculentum. 
t [This Deer has been stated by Mr.Blyth (Ibis, 1862, p. 92) to be the 
Cervusrusa, introduced from Java.— Ed.] 
