It is in a very neglected condition, and appears to be an appurtenance common to some cottages at its foot, and which are occupied by coal-miners. The walls, however, are in tolerably sound condition. For the present the Domestic Architecture of South Pembrokeshire may be considered sufficiently illustrated; but, as there are probably many other remains of the same varied character and importance, it is to be hoped that this imperfect notice given in the Journal of the Association may induce members who reside in that part of the country to turn their attention to the subject, and communicate the result of their investigations. But another, and perhaps more desirable, object will be attained if the owners of such houses can be induced to place a proper value on them, and preserve as far as possible such memorials of their predecessors as are worthy of preservation, not only from their individual character, but as furnishing a safe and clear insight into the manner of life in a district so peculiarly situated as was the southern portion of Pembrokeshire. E. L. BARN WELL. NOTES ON A PORTION OF THE MATGORN-YR- FROM THE CHURCH OF LLANDDEWI BREVI, CARDIGANSHIRE. Two summers ago I was engaged in tracing glacial phenomena in that wild district of South Wales which lies between Llandovery and Tregarron, and which, occupying a hill country between the Towy and Teivy rivers, rises in the hill of Craig Twrch to the height of more than two thousand feet above the sea. I was accompanied by my friend the Rev. James Hughes, of . Glan Rheidol, Cardiganshire, and the Berrow, Worcestershire, who was my guide over the hills, and conducted me to Llanddewi Brevi, a place of considerable interest in the ecclesiastical history of Wales, for it was here that a synod was held for the suppression of the Pelagian heresy A.D. 519. Here also preached St. David, the patron Saint of Wales, and here, according to Giraldus Cambrensis, who visited Llanddewi Brevi, in the reign of Henry II, A.D. 1188, was wrought a notable miracle, or rather miracles, for "when all the fathers assembled enjoyned St. David to preach, he commanded a child which attended him, and had lately been restored to life by him, to spread a napkin under his feet, and, standing upon it, he began to expound the Gospel and the law to the audience. All the while that his oration continued a snow-white dove descending from heaven sat upon his shoulder; and, moreover, the earth on which he stood raised itself under him till it became a hill, from whence his voyce, like a trumpet, was clearly heard and understood by all, both near and far off. On the top of which hill a church was afterwards built which remains to this day" (Giraldus in vita St. David apud Cressy, lib. ii, cap. 11). The principal reason of our visit to Llanddewi Brevi was to see the church where once was suspended the horn of that gigantic ox which was seen by Bishop Gibson, and is described in his additions to Camden's Britannia, written in the time of William III (edit. 1695), as having been there ever since the time of St. David. "This Matkorn," says Gibson, "seemed to me a very remarkable curiosity. For if it be not really (as the name implies) the interior horn of an ox, it very much resembles it, and yet is so weighty that it seemed absolutely petrified. It is full of large cells or holes, and the circumference of it at the root is about seventeen inches" (Gibson's Camden, ed. 1695, p. 644, 645). Again, about 1813 or 1814, all that was left of the "Matkorn" was seen by Rees, who describes a fragment of what was seen by Gibson as being still preserved in the church, but as being "no more than a foot in length." This is, I have no doubt, the relic which I have now to submit to your inspection, and it has been preserved in the family of Mr. Hughes, of Glan Rheidol, since the year 1823. (See label on the Matkorn.) Before I enter upon the history of what this "Matkorn" proves to be, I would invite attention to a few of the Welsh traditions respecting the former existence of large horned animals in South Wales. My friend Professor Ramsay, who took much interest in the specimen, sent me the following extract from William Owen's Welsh Dictionary, 1803 "Banawg, prominent, conspicuous, notable. Ychain banawg, the large-horned oxen, were some kind of animals formerly in Wales, probably either the moose, the elk, or bison, most probably the latter. These gave rise to many stories which are current over all Wales; and there is hardly a lake but is asserted in the neighbourhood to be the one out of which the Ychain banawg drew the Avanc, another terrible animal under the name of the beaver. At Llanddewi Brevi they shewed till lately some very large horns, which they asserted were those of the Yçain banawg. Cainc yr Yçain banawg is a strange piece of music, still known to a few, intended as an imitation of the lowing and rattling of the chains of the Yçain banawg in drawing the Avanc out of the lake." There is a note in Gough's additions to Camden which does not appear in Gibson's additions to the Britannia, viz., that "the oxen called ychen bannog drew away a monstrous beaver dead." Professor Ramsay, however, informs me that Mr. Williams of Treffos, and Mr. Johnes of Dolaucothy, both accomplished Welsh scholars, are of opinion that the avanc, which some consider to mean the beaver, is the name of some water monster which, in these days, at least, is fabulous. So much for the Welsh traditions of certain gigantic oxen, and some other animal now extinct. It remains for us to see if we can gather some germs of fact from the clouds of tradition. This precious relic from the church of Llanddewi Brevi was entrusted to my care, and I forwarded it to Sir Charles Lyell, who was so good as to consult Mr. Boyd Dawkins, a gentleman well-known for his knowledge of the comparative anatomy of the extinct mammalia, and especially for his researches respecting the extinct boves (oxen). The following letter was forwarded to me respecting the Matkorn : "DEAR SIR CHARLES, I have just examined the fragment of horn core. Its great size and curvature prove the animal to which it belonged to have been the great Ürus-Bos primigenius, that Charlemagne hunted in the forests of Achen, and the monks of St. Galle ate on their feast-days. The date of its disappearance from Britain is uncertain; any light, therefore, that can be thrown upon the question is of very great value. The condition of the fragment proves that it was derived from a peat bog, or alluvium, and most probably from those of the Teivy, either at Lampeter or at Gors Goch. "I am, dear Sir Charles, yours truly, "W. BOYD DAWKINS." "To Sir Charles Lyell, Bart., 73, Harley Street." With respect to Mr. Dawkins' remarks as to the derivation of the Matkorn from a peat bog or alluvium, I would observe that near Tregaron, and within a few miles of Llanddewi Brevi, there is a large morass which was undoubtedly once the bed of a considerable lake, and which lake was formed by the damming up of the waters of the Teivy by masses of glacial till which were transported from the hill regions. The Teivi opposite Tregaron flows through a gorge excavated in this barrier of till, which contains numerous large and small boulders of ice-grooved stones. It is singular also that a long bank of glacial till which extends for some distance towards the east and west is called "Cwys Ychain Banawg," or "the furrow of the Bannog oxen", tradition ascribing the raising of this bank to the great powers of these large-horned oxen. It is at the bottom of such a morass as that near Tregaron that geologists would expect to find the remains both of the Bos primigenius, and the beaver, which (whether or not it is the animal associated with the legends of the great ox) we know frequented the shores. of the Teivy in the days of Henry II, but which appears to have become extinct before the time of Queen Elizabeth (Camden's Britannia). The Llostlydan (broad tail) was, it appears, a rare animal in the days of Hywel Dda (A.D. 907), as its skin was valued at the high price of one hundred and twenty pence, whereas that of the avanci or water-dog (otter) was valued at eightpence. The description given by Giraldus Cambrensis of the habits of the beaver is very remarkable. He says "they construct their castles in the middle of the rivers, making use of the animals of their own species instead of carts, who by a wonderful mode of carriage convey the trees from the woods to the rivers." The zoologist will not fail to remark that the description by Giraldus of the ways and habits of the beaver of the Teivy correspond precisely with the habits of the social or Canadian beaver, whereas the European beaver, as now known, is a solitary animal with habits more like those of the otter. The remains of the beaver have been found in several parts of England in peat mosses, and alluvial deposits. I have seen the jaws and heads of both old and young animals, which were obtained from the ancient lake beds of Cambridgeshire. Remains were found by the late Mr. Hugh Strickland in old river silt on the |