NOTES ON DUG-OUT BOATS.
163
Much interest was taken in the demonstration, and there was a general
expression of opinion that Lady Warwick's experiment went a long way to
solve the difficulty of technical instruction in rural districts.
The visitors were afterwards entertained to tea, the appreciation of it
being inhanced by the rumour that the excellent light refreshments had been
made by the cookery students in the school itself.
NOTES ON "DUG-OUT" BOATS IN THE
ANCIENT MARSHES OF THE LEA AND
THE THAMES.
Referring to Mr. T. V. Holmes' paper, "Geological Notes
on the New Reservoirs in the Valley of the Lea, near Waltham-
stow," in the last part of the Essex Naturalist, it seems desir-
able to add to the account of the "dug-out" canoe therein given
(ante pp. 11, 12), some details extracted from Mr. W. Traill's
paper in The Reliquary and Illustrated Archaeologist for January,
1901, and to supplement this by an account of a similar boat
found in the mud of the old Thames a few years ago.
The Lea boat was found on October 30th, 1900, at a depth of
about six feet from the surface, lying almost due north and
south, with the bow towards the south; and seems to have been
drawn up on the bank of an old river. It was resting on a bed
(5 ins. thick) of fine, sandy silt mixed with fresh-water shells, at
a level of 21 ft. above ordnance datum. The geological position
in which the canoe lay has already be stated, and its appearance
both in situ and when placed on the trolley for removal, is well
shown in the illustrations accompanying Mr. Holmes' paper.
It had evidently been hollowed out of the trunk of an oak
tree. Mr. Traill took the principal dimensions as follows:—
Extreme length, 14ft. 10in.; extreme breadth, 2ft. 4m.; extreme
depth, 1 ft. 4ins.; extreme depth inside, 1ft. 11/2ins.; thickness of
timber at gunwale, fin.
"Both ends are rounded, but the sides are almost at right
angles to the flat bottom. Eight feet from the stern a
strengthening rib has been left in, 6ins. wide and 71ns. deep, and
3ft. 8ins. nearer the bow a small rib has also been left in. On
the right side of the stern a hole 7/8 of an inch in diameter has
been drilled vertically through the gunwale. An oak peg has
been fitted into this, and cut off to the slope of the outside and