A Curiosity.

Manawatu Herald, 21 March 1895, Page 3

A Curiosity.

Mr Langley, who at one time was ferryman and pilot at the mouth of the Manawatu, has not yet lost his fondness for the sea, and it is his "custom of an afternoon," in a manner of speaking, to take a ride along the sea coast. Last Friday, whilst thus passing the time away, he noticed lying on the beach, about seven miles north of the bar, a long spar. At first it was passed as a thtyg not out of the common, but on returning he dismounted and thoroughly examined it, with the result that on the following Monday he carted it up to his residence at Foxton V> ; J?Sp 8 8ing»larity of the find lies in the » not that the spar is over fifty feet in length, is only eight inches in diameter, and is hollow throughout, and the outside is covered with oyster shells. This proves that the wood must have been at one time very heavy, and that it must have been lying on the bottom of the ocean some considerable time, and that, as some of the oysters were alive, could only have been very recently beached. Mr Langley believes the statement of these facts may be a guide as to the run of the ocean currents, as he Vis of the opinion that the spar was originally a palm tree, judging so both |fiH!k its length, colour and B { ren *Hr Mr Langley will be meas6Ste show anyone this visitor from i,* the vasty deep."