Museum.

The Canterbury Museum, one of the richest and most complete in the Southern Hemisphere, and (according to Dr. Otto Finsch) equal with those of Frankfort and Stutgardt, is, in consequence, an object of great interest to visitors to Christchurch. This institution, incorporated with the Canterbury College, consists of one hall 90 feet long and 45 feet broad, with a gallery all round, containing the foreign Zoological collections; and of another hall, 70 feet page 64long and 35 feet broad, in which the New Zealand collection, together with the minerals and rocks from foreign countries are exhibited. A room, 30 feet long and 30 feet broad, is mainly used for Osteological collections; and another, 50 feet long and 30 feet broad, for the Palæontological series; whilst a third room, 80 feet long and 30 feet broad, contains the casts and reliefs; and a fourth room, 80 feet long and 30 feet broad, is devoted to the foreign Ethnological collections, both pre-historic and historic. Another room, 90 feet long aud 48 feet broad, has been added, devoted exclusively to the Technological collections. The collections illustrating the habits and customs of the former and present indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand are placed in a Maori house, originally intended for the Ngatiporou tribe, North Island; and, finally, a room, 16 feet square, contains the Herbarium.

The collections, containing numerous series of types obtained from the most eminent scientific authorities in each branch, consist of upwards of 150,000 specimens.

A slight sketch of the

History of This Institution,

of which Canterbury is justly proud, may not be uninteresting to our readers.

In December, 1860, Dr. von Haast, to whose unremitting exertions we owe the possession of this extremely valuable institution, was appointed by the Canterbury Provincial Government, Provincial Geologist, which was the first appointment of the kind made in New Zealand, Canterbury in this, as in other ways, taking the lead in matters educational and scientific. He had, during two years previously, collected in New Zealand (in the North Island and in the Province of Nelson) seven cases of specimens—mostly geological, rocks, minerals, ores, and fossils—together with a herbarium. These formed the first nucleus of the present Museum. The office of the Geological Survey Department, as it was called, was located on the first floor of the north-east side of the Provincial Government buildings, and occupied the high tower and two other rooms. The specimens consisted of—

This was a small beginning, but Dr. Haast immediately set to work to increase it, and his journeys to the head waters of the Rangitata, the Malvern Hills, and the head waters of the Waitaki were so successful, that, in 1863, 742 specimens of page 65rocks, ores, and minerals, and 520 fossils had been added to the collection. Among others, also 182 specimens of New Zealand shells had been obtained.

In the meantime, at Dr. Haast's suggestion, the Provincial Council, in 1862, had voted £100 for the purchase of type collections in mineralogy, lithology, palæontology, and conchology, which were obtained from the Mineralien Comptoir, in Heidelberg, Germany. It contained 2613 well-selected specimens, many of them of permanent value. About the same time Professor Ferdinand von Hochstetter sent out a collection of German fossils, ores, and minerals, some of them being of great rarity and beauty.

In August, 1862, a cast of the skeleton of the Palapteryx ingens arrived from Europe, and was presented by Dr. Haast to the Museum. It was constructed by, and purchased from, Dr. Jaeger, of Vienna, an eminent German palæontologist, from bones dug out of a cave in Nelson. About this time Mr E. F. Gray, of Avonhead, presented to the Museum some leg bones of the Dinornis maximus; and, beside the geological specimens, a large herbarium and a number of bird skins and invertebrates had been obtained.

The first presentation to the Museum was made, in August, 1861, by Mr. C. J. Tripp. It was a Nestor notabilis. The next two were a skin of the shining cuckoo, by Mr. C. Dunnage, and a polished stone implement found under the root of a large tree in Wellington, by Mr. George Hart. The first exchange was made with Mr., now Dr., W. L. Buller, who received a kea (nestor notabilis) obtained from the Mount Cook region, giving in exchange a Mantells kiwi (apteryx Mantelli).

By August, 1864, the collection had been considerably augmented, so that the whole geological series of New Zealand rocks consisted of nearly 1700 specimens, including 33 specimens of building stone either from quarries already opened in Canterbury, or from those to which it was desirable public attention should be directed. About 40 specimens of New Zealand shells had also been added to the collection, and this work was being done at trifling expense, the Provincial Council satisfying itself with voting an occasional sum for the purchase of show cases.

Donations now commenced to come in pretty freely, including a magnificent collection of British Lepidoptera, presented by Mr. R. Fereday; 1,086 specimens of European and North American plants, from the Rev. J. Butler, of Langar, near Nottingham; and 460 specimens of Australian plants from Dr. Ferd. Müller, in Melbourne.

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In 1864, also, the late Professor Louis Agassiz sent out a large collection of Echinodermata, both recent and fossil, in return for which exchanges were subsequently sent to him; and, in exchange for a small collection of New Zealand bird skins, the late George von Frauenfeld, director of the Imperial Zoological Museum, Vienna, sent a fine series of European skins. When, in August, 1864, the first account of the contents of the Museum was tendered to the Provincial Government, 5,860 specimens had been catalogued.

In 1865 Dr. von Haast obtained from Otago a series of specimens which still illustrate the rich localities where the first gold " rushes" took place; and from Westland he obtained a large series of geological specimens and a number of bird skins and plants; while the Provincial Government caused purchases to be made of samples of gold, and the "wash-dirt" it was found in, from the various West Coast gold-mining claims, so as to have a record of the rich ground then worked by many miners.

In 1866, the number of donors had reached 30 in that year.

Hitherto, New Zealand bird skins were the principal materials for exchange, upon which the Museum had to rely; but in December, 1866, a new era began. Under permission from the proprietors of Glenmark station, Dr. von Haast commenced to search for Moa bones in that locality, on his first trip obtaining sufficient to fill a large American four-horsed waggon.

About this time a large collection of skins of North American mammals arrived from Professor Agassiz, so that now the Museum contained some representative specimens from the American continent.

By the end of 1866 the collection had so increased that there was no space for it in the old rooms, so a small cottage in Kilmore street, and a room in the Government Buildings, over Bellamy's, were placed at Dr. Haast's disposal. In this latter, the first seven moa skeletons obtained were articulated.

In September, 1867, more moa bones having been obtained, collections were shipped to the Australian Museum in Sydney, and to the Museum of Comparative Geology in Cambridge, U.S.A. In the following month, the former Museum sent a valuable return collection of skins, mounted specimens of Australian mammals, birds, and reptiles, together with some in spirits of wine.

On the 3rd December, 1867, the Museum was first opened to the public. The number of specimens, all properly labelled, amounted to 7,886, of which 4,312 were collected by Dr. von Haast, and 3,575 were received from other countries.

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In 1868, a fine collection of molluscs, mostly from the tropics, an articulated human skeleton, and a number of bird skins, principally African, were received from the Vienna Zoological Museum; also an extensive series of pre-historic remains from the late Mr. John Flower, of Croydon, Surrey. Thus the prehistoric series was fairly begun.

In 1868, the Provincial Council voted £1,200 for a stone building for the Museum, besides giving the stone, and £150 for cases. Dr. Haast appealed to the public for private subscriptions, the result being that a further sum of £483 was collected. A hall, 70 feet long and 35 feet wide, with a gallery running all round, and a lean-to, 35 feet long and 12 feet wide, were built. It is a portion of the present building, and was opened with an Art Exhibition in February, 1870.

In the meantime, valuable additions to the Museum were received from the museums in Bremen, Vienna, Munich, Calcutta, Cambridge (U.S.A.), and London; and also from private individuals; the system of exchange instituted by the director, Dr. von Haast, working well.

In October, 1870, the collections having been removed to the new building, the Museum, under its new and improved condition, was formally opened. At this time it contained 25,353 specimens —7,134 geological and palæontological, 11,218 zoological, the rest being botanical and ethnological.

Since then, the various halls described in the opening of this chapter, have been from time to time added till the present handsome structure was completed.

The visitor, entering by the main door facing Worcester-street, finds on the right the
Mammal Room.

In here, on the right, is a case containing some magnificent lions and tigers, splendidly mounted, and presenting a life-like appearance. On the opposite side are the bears, which include the finest specimens to be seen anywhere. The skins are not stuffed with straw in the old way, but the animal is modelled in clay, and, when the clay is still plastic, the skin is moulded on In the next case to the lions are the monkeys. Here is to be seen a very fine specimen of male gorilla, and the family of ourang-outangs. There is a remarkable " nose" monkey from Borneo, a very rare specimen, and, besides many others, some "Lemures," of Madagascar, a very peculiar family of monkeys.

The next case contains sloths, ant-eaters, armadilloes, marmots moles, and squirrels, and next it are specimens of smaller deer, antelopes, chamois, &c. Among these, one of the most remarkable is a specimen of the "Bighorn" of the North American page 68Rocky Mountains. Its curled horns, which are of considerable size, weigh between thirty and forty pounds, and are immensely strong, it being the habit of this animal, when jumping down precipices, to land on his head.

At the end of the room is a group of animals too large to be put in a case, amongst them being an elephant, a rhinoceros, a camel, a giraffe, an elk, and the American and European bison.

Turning back towards the door, the visitor comes to a case containing beavers, hares, porcupines, and representatives of the large family of rats and mice. In the centre of the case is a fine group of seals. With the exception of one northern specimen (Crested Seal, of Greenland), they are all of the Southern Hemisphere. There is also a group of sea-lions, sea-leopards, and smaller fur seals. The end of the case contains specimens of all the marsupial animals of Australia—kangaroos, wallabys, &c.

The next case contains otters, badgers, wolves, foxes, and hyenas.

The centre of the room at the south side is used for the skeletons of large mammals, either recent or extinct. Of the former, the most conspicuous are the skeletons of a large Indian elephant, giraffe, camel, and rhinoceros. Here stands the skeleton, ot the celebrated sire Traducer. Among the extinct forms is the gigantic megatherium, of South America, a gigantic sloth. This animal, which, like its present climbing representative, fed on leaves, was, from its immense size, unable to climb, and it is supposed that after grubbing up round the roots of trees, it used its enormous strength to rock them backwards and forwards till they fell. There is also a beautiful complete skeleton of the giant Irish elk.

At the north-east side of the room are a number of reptiles, amongst them an immense crocodile; while in the centre, at the north side, are a number of other mammals, among which the most remarkable are a zebu, of India, the manatee of South America (a fresh water seal), and a quagga, of South Africa. There is also a fine group of New Zealand boars. The windows aud spare pillars of this room are decorated with cases containing a large collection of beetles and butterflies.

The entrance-hall is hung round with weapons and implements of savage races, and the passage leading to the various rooms is hung with a valuable collection of line and mezzotinto engravings of the principal English engravers of the last century.

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The visitor next enters the

Technological Room,

one of the most recent additions to the Museum. The various show-cases standing against the walls are each surmounted by a bust of some eminent man. In the first case on the right (over which is a bust of Sir Isaac Newton) are models illustrating mining, metallurgical works, and shipbuilding. The second case (surmounted by a bust of F. von Hochstetter) contains models illustrating steam, water, and gas power engines. The third case (carrying a bust of the Duke of Manchester) shows details of machinery, and models illustrating mechanical motion for drainage and irrigation. The fourth case (on which is a bust of Linnæus) is fitted with models of mechanical powers, geometrical models, and models illustrating mechanical motion.

The next case (over which stands a bust of Raffaelle Sanzio) contains specimens of art metal work, Japanese ancient and modern, Indian and recent German, besides casts from the most celebrated works of art by Cellini and others, We next come to a case containing some very beautiful Japanese art-work in China and bronze castings. Next this are some wood and shell carvings, some of them of great beauty.

The long case at the end of the room contains illustrations of ceramic art for industrial purposes from the various Canterbury pottery works, stoneware of various countries and ages, and illustrations for agricultural and pastoral purposes; while below it are illustrations of the manufacture of steel, india-rubber, and gutta percha.

Illustrations of steel and iron manufactures from some of the largest works in England and Scotland are a prominent feature at this end of the room, and will be examined with interest by both amateurs and the practical workman.

The first of a row of desk cases on the right in this room contains specimens of useful and ornamental ores, minerals, and rocks, of New Zealand and other countries. Amongst them is a fine series of real gems, as found in nature and polished, and a series of diamonds from the African fields. The quartz rocks as worked in Germany, and fibres of New Zealand and other countries are also fully represented.

On the opposite side of the room, in a long desk case, is a splendid metallurgical series, which there is probably nothing to equal in the Southern Hemisphere. The specimens illustrate the mining of ores and the processes by which the metals are refined. At the one end the metallurgy of gold is represented. There is a fine series from the gold mines of Hungary, showing rocks the exact counterpart of those found at the Thames. page 70Quartz from various mines in Australia is also shown, and models of the largest nuggets ever found either there or elsewhere. All the processes of refining, from the crude ore to the pure metal, are also illustrated by specimens with regard to silver, quicksilver, iron, nickel, zinc, tin, lead, and copper; a large part of the series being presentations from the Austrian Government. It is difficult to speak too highly of this portion of the Museum, as it would be difficult to surpass the specimens.

In the case on the western side of the room (surmounted by a bust of Mr. E. G. Wakefield) are models explaining wood construction, joinery, and shipbuilding; and another case (on which is a bust of Lord Lyttelton) contains models of wood and stone construction. Another small case contains chemical preparations and articles made from minerals, such as asbestos goods, white lead, paints, &c.

In a handsome wall case is a series of submarine cables, presented by the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, London, containing both shore and deep-sea cables, and their sections.

Woollen manufactures are represented by a fine case of specimens from T. W. Rust & Co., of Leicester; and a series showing the manufacture of woollen goods, from the initial stage to the completion, from the Kaiapoi Woollen Manufacturing; Company.

In a case against the wall the New Zealand goldfields, are represented; the "washdirt" from the different claims being, shown in glass bottles, and the washed gold from the same claims in trays. In this dual way the principal claims at the Thames, Westland, and in Otago are represented.

The collection of about fifty specimens of building stones near the entrance to this room, all of them from Canterbury quarries, proves how rich in this respect the district is, almost every degree of colour, texture, and hardness, being represented. Specimens of New Zealand timbers from Westland and other parts of the Colony, both in the rough and dressed, are also a prominent feature of this room, and confirm other testimony as to the variety and great value of our native forest trees.

In a high centre case the ceramic art is represented, showing, by specimens from Copeland and Son's works, Stoke upon Trent, the various processes through which porcelain ware passes in the course of manufacture. Specimens of stoneware, porcelain, and majolica, some of them of great beauty and excellence, from all parts of the world, give a good insight into the former and present mode of manufacture. If we say that the national manufactories of Meissen, Sevres, and Vienna, are represented, page 71that unique specimens from the great English manufactories in Staffordshire and Shropshire have found a resting place in this Museum, and that Japan, China, and India are represented by valuable specimens, a good idea may be conveyed of the beauty and value of the collection.

Although the exhibits of glassware are small, yet the manufactories of Bohemia and England are represented by some very choice specimens, engraved, plain, and coloured, while a small case of Murano glass is particularly worthy of notice.

Textile fabrics representing both the manufactured and raw material, principally in flax, cotton, and silk; some very fine Japanese embroidery work; enamelling, inlaying in wood, ivory carving, repousé work in silver and other metals, both ancient and modern, form of themselves highly interesting and costly specimens.

The next room (at the end of the passage), is devoted to

Osteology,

and some fine series of skeletons arranged according to their sub-kingdoms. Particularly worth notice is a fine male gorilla skeleton, the giant Python from India, besides some articulated human skeletons. A separate case contains skulls of the different human races, both ancient and modern, among them being skulls from Egyptian mummies, Roman of the Augustine period, and Anglo-Saxon and Romano-British races. Skulls from Peruvian mummies; Flat-headed Indians, and a Tasmanian one are among the rarities. The Maoris of New Zealand and the Mori-ori of the Chatham Islands are well represented.

In some desk cases is shown a fine collection of European eggs.

Skeletons of birds, fishes, and reptiles, including the crocodile, condor, and ostrich, are well represented, and above the cases are a large sunfish, a stingaree, and the smallest whale known (seven feet long).

Continuing east we come to a room principally devoted to

Fossils.

The collection is contained in a number of central and side cases, and is arranged both stratigraphically and zoologically. The fossils zoologically arranged are distinguished by the different coloured borders on the tickets, the black borders belonging to the Palæozoic, the blue to the Mesozoic, and the red to the Kainozoic periods.

Casts of the gigantic armadillo (the extinct Glyptodon), and of skulls of the Elephas Ganesa, Mastodon, and Dinotherium, and several others are also to be seen.

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Among the most remarkable fossils is a collection from the celebrated Solenhofen lithographic stone quarries.

Celebrated footprints from Massachusetts, bones of extinct elephants, a fine collection of corals, and a case of stuffed fishes, snakes, &c., from foreign countries, complete our notice of this room.

Returning to the skeleton room, and passing through it to the left, we come to

The Moa Room,

which is principally devoted to specimens belonging to New Zealand. The most striking feature here is the magnificent collection of moa skeletons, two of which, the Dinornis Maximus, stand twelve feet three inches high. Other specimens of this bird without wings are to be seen, from the size of a small emu up to that of a giraffe, all, even the smallest, being fullgrown, showing the different species into which this family is divided. There are also some complete whale skeletons.

In the cases round the sides of the room are stuffed and mounted New Zealand birds, making, with one or two exceptions, a complete collection, while many of them are unique specimens not to be seen in any other museum. The kiwi or apteryx, the last remnant of the moas, is worth notice, as are some very rare New Zealand quail, which are under a glass case at the end of the room.

As everything during the moa age was on a gigantic scale, our visitors should not be surprised to see the skeleton of a woodhen (Aptornis) about three feet high, and of an extinct goose (Cnemiornis) about the same height. In one of the cases, also, is a gigantic harrier (Harpagornis) which preyed upon the moa, about the size of the largest condor.

Cases in this room are also devoted to penguins, New Zealand fishes, crustaceas, and other invertebra.

A ribbon-fish (Regalaceus Pacificus), about twelve feet long, in this room is a rare specimen, probably the only one of the kind in existence.

Upstairs in this hall is devoted to

Geology and Mineralogy.

On the right are the rocks of New Zealand and other countries, and in the lower show cases are collections of foreign minerals. On the opposite side are New Zealand fossils, and in the lower show cases New Zealand fossils again, and a collection of rocks especially arranged for those who wish to study lithology. The rest of the high cases on the western wall contain botanical collections, timbers, fruits, seeds, &c.

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Above the low cases small vertical cases run all round the room, in which spirits of wine specimens are exhibited. Here we find a collection of foreign and New Zealand fishes, snakes, lizards; also in the same cases a fine collection of sponges. Particularly worth notice is a collection of beautiful stone lilies, or stalked crinoids, which were formerly supposed to be extinct, but which have been dredged up in the course of recent deep-sea fishing. The collection or minerals is magnificent. Among the sponges attention is drawn to the wonderful siliceous sponges (Eúplectella Aspergillum), and a splendid specimen of Neptune's Cup sponge, lately found in Singapore. The walls are covered with maps, typographical and geological, the collection being valuable, as containing one of every map ever published of Canterbury. One specimen, published in 1850, is supposed to be the only copy of it in existence. They are particularly worth notice, as illustrating the progress of typographical and geological survey in Canterbury.

A small corridor off the west side of this room, which contains cases of recent New Zealand shells, and photographs of remarkable New Zealand scenery, leads to

The Maori House.

This house was designed, and the carvings and scrolls executed, by Hone Taahu, of the Ngatiporou tribe, who named it Hau-te-ana-nui-o-Tangaroa (the sacred great cave of Tangaroa, the Polynesian Neptune). It was originally intended as a residence for the chief Henare Potae, of Tokomario. During the war prior to 1875 the materials were partially destroyed by the Hau-Haus, which delayed its erection till it was fortunately secured for the Christchurch Museum by Samuel Locke, Esq., of Napier. It was brought down and erected on its present site by two Maoris, one being the designer of it, and the other Tamati Ngakako.

Tamati Taahu stated that the art of carving was hereditary in his family. The art is practised in greater perfection among the Maoris of the East Coast of the North Island than elsewhere. This is generally attributed to the fact that the stern posts and figure heads of the canoes in which their ancestors came from Hawaiki were highly carved, and were preserved and used as models by their descendants, who, having cultivated a taste for the art, have never lost it.

In the centre of this remarkable building are ethnological collections of past and present generations of our fine Native race. Opposite the entrance are two large show cases containing specimens found during the excavations in Moa Bone Cave, Sumner, which have given such an insight to the history of the page 74aboriginal Maoris. The smaller cases next these, on both sides, contain remnants from the kitchen middens of the moa hunters, by whom that gigantic bird was exterminated.

The two last cases at the northern end contain a selection of beautiful stone weapons and implements of the Maoris of New Zealand and of the Morioris of the Chatham Islands, ornaments, weapons, clothing, and other remarkable objects.

The visitor's special attention will.probably be given to a cast of an antique Tamil Bronze Bell, found in the possession of the natives of the North Island, and a cast of " Korotangi," a carved stone bird, said by the natives to have been brought from Hawaiki.

In the centre of the room, between the cases, are a number of beautiful wood carvings for the prows and stern posts of canoes, showing the great proficiency in this art attained by the Maoris. There is also a half-size model of a Moriori canoe made of flaxsticks (there being no large timber in the Chatham Islands) in which they used to go miles out to sea. Round the walls are hung some very finely-wrought mats and rugs, implements of war and chase, and paddles. One article, of which very few are known to exist, is a Tai-aha, a chief's spear made of whalebone, curiously carved and inlaid with pawa shells.

Returning to the main entrance of the building and ascending the principal staircase, the visitor reaches the gallery in the mammal room, where, all along the walls, the

Collection of Birds

from all parts of the world is exhibited. The first case on the left contains birds of prey, vultures, eagles, &c.: among them the gigantic condor from the Andes is conspicuous. The case of owls is very fine, particularly the great horned and snowy owls.

A glance along this side of the room will make it evident that great care has been given to the arrangement of the various specimens, anything like soldier - like appearance having been avoided, and the many bright colours give alternately blazes of pleasing contrasts and harmony. The group of trojons from Central America is very fine, equalling in plumage the birds of paradise. Next to this are groups of American humming birds and African sun birds. Next to these again are two prominent groups of birds of paradise containing some of the rarest specimens in existence, the black bird of paradise in particular being so rare that there are only four similar specimens known to exist in the whole world. It is impossible in the limited space at our command to dwell on the beauties of this splendid collection of birds as it deserves. Few museums, even in old countries, though larger, can equal it, and fewer still, if any, can surpass it. The page 75remarkable toucans, the scarlet ibis, the splendid collection of pheasants, the emus, ostriches, the Australian paroquets and the cuckoos, the pigeons, with the gigantic crested pigeons of New Guinea, the interesting group of capercailies, the waders, swans, geese, ducks, gulls, terns, and pelicans would take a volume were we to attempt to describe them.

In the low cases is a very large collection of recent shells, marine, fresh water, and land. In order to assist the student, the tickets of the shells have different-coloured borders, the marine having black, the freshwater blue, and the land shells red.

The rest of the low cases are filled with echinodermata, &c. (sea. urchins, British star-fish, &c.) There is also a collection of glass models of invertebrate animals, to the life-like appearance of which special attention is drawn, and a number of cuttle fish preserved in spirits of wine.

The next room is devoted to

Statuary and Painting.

It contains casts of the most celebrated statues by ancient and modern sculptors. A marble bust of Garibaldi, life size, by Giani Vincenzo, of Rome, presented by Italian admirers of the patriot in New Zealand, stands in this room. Among the statues of the Greek period are the Laocoon, Apollo Belvedere, Venus of Milo, and Venus de Medicis; of the Roman period,. Antinous and the Dying Gladiator, &c.; of Renaissance,. Mercury; and of more recent times, Eve at the fountain, and Perseus, by Canova, are most noticeable.

A good beginning has been made towards a picture gallery, the most beautiful in the small collection being the well-known picture in oils, by Jourdan, of " Leda." New Zealand is represented by the works of Cousins, Gully, Gibbs, Richmond, and others.

A door leads from this room to the

Ethnological and Antiquity

room. Here are Etruscan and Roman antiquities; Indian, American, Fijian, and pre-historic pottery, and a very complete and interesting series of pre-historic remains from Europe. These latter, consisting of flint implements and kitchen middens, from France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Scandinavia, some of the latter containing remains of both extinct and living; animals. The Swiss lake dwellings are particularly well represented by flint, stone and bone implements, and by pottery, bronzes, &c. A small model of one of these remarkable lake dwellings makes us acquainted with the mode of living of those very interesting pre-historic people.

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A high case against one wall contains four Etruscan cinerary cists, carved in limestone or alabaster. There is also a fine collection of coins, medals, autographs, and prints. The mound boulders of North America, the Aztecs of Mexico, and the original inhabitants of Peru are represented. There is a fine series of ethnological specimens from New Guinea, Australia, Fiji, and Samoa, as well as Africa and America. A large collection of casts of ivory carvings from the Roman period to the seventeenth century is very interesting, and a collection of ancient Japan tools, paintings, and warlike implements. The wall on the south side is decorated with specimens of Egyptian papyri, and on the opposite side is a collection of publications of the Arundel Society, being fac similes of celebrated works of art.