MORETON BAY.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 171, 19 January 1848, Page 2

MORETON BAY.

Fossil Bones. — We have been favoured bv Mr. Turner, who arrived in Busbane from Major Innes station on the Darling Dooms the other day, with the sight of a few remarkable fossil bones of gigantic dimensions, which were discovered by him in the bed of a creek on the run. The remains are those of an animal of extraordinary sizi— much larger thin an elephant— and have excited the astonishment of every person who has had an opportunity ot inspecting them. The head of this enormous animal is more than four fest in length, and is m a capital state ot preservation. The fore arm measures three feet in length, and the other part of the legs in proportion. Several of the teeth were found quite perfect, from which it would appear that the habits of the animal were graminiverous. It i» conjectured that the gigantic qmdraped wjs from fourteen to sixteen feet in height, d stature which the enormous creature known aa the Great Mastoden never attained, judging at least from the remains discovered in North America. Portions only of the skel eton were discovered by Mr. Turner, and it is much to be regretted tint he did not succeed in obtaining the pelvis. The fossils are to ba submitted to the inspection of Dr. Nicholson, and other scientific men m Sydney. Dr. Leichlnrdt pronounced them to be the most perfect specimens he had ssen, bat did not venture to give any opinion as to the era in whicn the animal may be supposed to have lived, or as to the genus to which it belongs, — Moreton Bay Courier.

Femi?ul Encounter with a Shark.— On Tuestfay morning last, Mr. James Stewart, manager for, the firm of Messrs. Binnie and Co., the saddlers of North Brisbane, and accompanied by Mr. Robinson, schoolmister, proceeded to the bank of the river for the pur - pose of bathing. Having undressed themselves, Mr. Stewart plunged into the water : but Mr. Robinson, having a certain misgiving that an accident was about to happen, remained on the bank, and cautioned his companion to keep a sharp look uut for sharks. Mr. Stewart haJ only been in a few minutes, wLen he uttered a violent sc earn, and at the same moment Mr. Itobinion observed a large shark with its belly upwards, rushing to attack him about twenty yards from the side Mr. Stewirt, condous of his danger, immediately turned towards the bank, when the shaik bit him in the thigh, tearing away the flesh in a shocking manner Mr. Robinson who witnessed the dreadful scene, statei that Mr. Stewart in his endeavours to reach the bank, was sometime! under the belly, and sometimes on the tack of the monster, which bit him a second time on the calf of the leg, and inflicted another dreadful wound. After struggling violently with his feaifull antagonist for a few miuutes, he at length succeded in reaching the bank, it a very exhausted state, followed by the sha«-k, when he wa<* immediately rescued from his perilous situation, by Mr. Robinson, who dragged him out ofthe water, and placed him on the bank, The shark fortunately did not s.tteinpt to bite him the third time, and finding thut hib pr t 'y had escaped, moved off leisurely into deep water. Immediately a(ter the accident occurred, Mr. Robinson ran to procure the assistance of Dr. Ballow, who shortly afterwards arrived, and having bandaged the wounds, the sufferer was conveyed to the General Hospital, where every attention was paid to him. When lying on the bank, Mr. Stewart had the presence of mind to take his handkerchief, and tie it round the thigh above the wound, to stop the hamorrhage, in which he partially succeeded. As soon as the circumstance became known to the inhabitants, a nnmber of persons resolved upon attempting ths capture of the shaik, and in a few hours afterwards, Mr. Jones the Barrack Sergeant, succeeded in dragging him safe to 1-rnd, the voracious monster having greedily snapped at a bul. ! lock's heart with which the hook was baited. It turned out to be a shovel-nosed ground shark, and measured about nine feet six inches. Of course, the most lively curiosity on the part of spectator! to leain what he had got slowed away in his inside followed \ and as is usuil in such case?, they were d'S3appointed, as the stomach was empty. On making inquiries yesterday, we learned that Mr. Stewart was getting on favourably, although very weak from the lots of I blood. It is not a little singular that the fears expressed in a late number of this journal respecting the safety of persons Lathing in the ri»er should so soon have boen confirmed by such a terrible example —Ibid.

Mr. W. Ray Smee estimates ihe annual lacome of Great Britain at £418,0011,000, of which amount only £i80,00J,000, or rather more than one-third, ii chained vvith income-tax. The old bridge of Dumfries, after itanding 600 years, has given way.