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Aboriginal Chambers near Tilbury (Vol. i., p. 462.).—Mr. Cook, of Abeley, Essex, having seen this Query, which had been kindly quoted into The AthenÆum of the 25th ultimo, communicated to that journal on Saturday, June 1st, the following information respecting two of these caves, the result of a personal examination of them:—

"The shafts are five in number; and are situated at the edge of Hanging Wood, in the parish of Chadwell, about three miles from Grays Pier. I descended two of them in 1847, by means of a rope and pulley fixed to the branch of a neighbouring tree,—taking the precaution to have a lighted lanthorn swinging a few yards beneath me. They were between eighty and ninety feet in depth,—their diameter at the top six feet, gradually diminishing to three feet at the bottom. There was a great deal of drift sand at the bottom of the shaft, extending a considerable way up, which nearly blocked up the entrance to the chambers. By treading down the sand I soon gained an entrance, and found five chambers communicating with the shaft—three on one side and two on the other. In form they were nearly semicircular. Their dimensions were small, not exceeding thirty feet in length by fifteen in width, but very lofty; they were quite dry and free from foul air. The chambers in both shafts corresponded exactly with each other in size, form, and number. I trust this brief account may be of some service to those gentlemen who intend to explore them, and should be most happy to afford any assistance in my power."

Mistake in Conybeare and Howson's Life of St. Paul.—In the splendid and learned Life of St. Paul, now publishing by Messrs. Longmans, there occurs in a note a broad assertion, but quite erroneous, which may mislead those who would be inclined to take it without examination, induced by the general accuracy and learning of the work. At page 35, note 1., the writer says, "It is remarkable that the Sadducees are mentioned in no other books of the New Testament, except St. Matthew and the Acts." I mentioned this as a fact to a friend, who immediately remembered a passage in St. Luke, chap. xx. v. 27.: "Then came to him certain of the Sadducees," &c. I then turned out Sadducees in Cruden, and there found only Matthew and Acts referred to. On looking at the passage of St. Mark parallel to the abovementioned of St. Luke, I read, "Then came unto him the Sadducees," &c. (xii. 18.) The note, therefore, should end, "except the first three Gospels and the Acts."

E. S. Jackson.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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