Andes and the Alps, and had watched the sun rise on Cotopaxi, on Etna, on Fujiyama, and a dozen other mountains of equal note. But here all questions of comparisons would have been a sacrilege; and floating noiseless over the unruffled surface of the river, we sat spellbound drinking in the view. The sun sank slowly as we crept along, and slope and peak, at first a dazzling white, turned slowly to a glowing gold. On either hand the fastapproaching night had changed the glories of the autumn tints to a sombre shade of violet, and behind us the river was a mere streak of light. The glow of the fire upon the other raft lit up the bearded faces of our Russian guides around it; and when the daylight had fairly waned, the head of Kluchefskaya stood out a pale greenish white-a spectral mountain against the fast-darkening sky. Come what might, even if we were never again to get a glimpse of them, we had seen the great volcanoes, and we felt that the sight was one that we should not easily forget for many years to come (vol. i. p. 149).

After rejoining the yacht the party visited the wellknown breeding-places of the fur seal at Bering Island; from thence back to Kamschatka, and then to Yokohama to refit and repair. A brief history of Russian discovery in these seas, and a record of a little-known defeat of the allied forces of England and France in 1854 at Avatcha, will also be found in this volume.

In Volume II. the scene changes from the snowy north to the tropics, where for a long time the Marchesa wandered from one island of the Indian Ocean to another. The little-known Island of Cagayan Sulu is described as perhaps the most beautiful of all tropical islands. A revised chart of the island is given; and its three crater-lakes, one of the most interesting phenomena to be met with in the Eastern seas, were visited and described. The third lake had escaped the notice not only of Admiral Keppel, who had twice visited this island, but also of Captain Chimmo, who had in 1871 surveyed Cagayan Sulu. This lake was of rather smaller size than the others, being two

fifths instead of three-fifths of a mile in diameter; but the basin was perfectly circular, and filled with water to about the level of the second lake. Thick jungle clothed its precipitous sides, but the latter, instead of running sheer down into the water, left room for a small beach on which wild bananas were growing.

The islands of the Sulu Archipelago are described in Chapters II. to IV. of this volume. Natural history rambles were made over Sulu; and the Sultan, with and without his wives, visited the yacht. Some days were spent with the Spaniards at Jolo, a fortress on the northern side of the island. The fauna and flora of the Philippines and Borneo are contrasted with those of Sulu, and the Sulu Archipelago is determined to be, zoographically, purely Philippine, the Sibutu Passage forming the boundary line. The newly-acquired territories of the British North Borneo Company were next visited, and some details are given of the existing state of things in this new colony. The colony at Labuan was found to be retrogressing. The

Sultan was interviewed; and Brunei, the Venice of the East, in which, except its market, there is little of interest, was explored. The great dexterity of the boatmen in the use of their paddles is noted. "From a rapid and beautifully clean stroke of forty or more to the minute, they would drop instantaneously to a long steady swing of twenty, without any apparent signal having been given, and without a hair's-breadth of deviation from the perfect time."

We pass over the chapter on Sumbawa, and next find the yacht at Celebes. Macassar is the Hong Kong of the Dutch, and is not attractive from the sea.

"The town is much as other Dutch Malayan towns. A row of white shops and merchants' offices lines the sea; and dust of a lightness and powderiness that is not excelled even in California or the Diamond Fields covers the streets to the depth of an inch or more. otherwise clean enough, and the spare time of the native servants, and they appear to have plenty of it, is occupied

These are

in perpetual watering. There is of course a fort, and equally of course a 'plein.' The cemetery is significantly full. Almost all the tombs are kept whitewashed, and as many of them are curious chapel-like erections with flying buttresses, the effect at a distance is something between an ice palace and a clothes'-drying ground. The houses of the Dutch residents, shadowed in peepul or galela trees, stand back a little distance from the road, long, low, and cool, with thick white posts at their entrance gates. A long avenue of magnificent overarching trees leads eastwards from the pier, adown which the Governor may be seen driving any afternoon in a four-in-hand, with skyblue reins. It is lighted by means of lamps hung midway between the trees, for the Hollander, even although gas may be unattainable, considers civilisation incomplete without these adjuncts. Then too there is the club, with its zinc-topped tables set out café-fashion beneath the trees. It is called the Harmonie,' as is every Dutch club in Malaysia, and within all is dark and deserted and cool during the mid-day heat. The servants are curled up asleep behind the bar or in the corners of the rooms, and would stare in dumb astonishment at the apparition of a European; for the early business of the day over, and the rijst tafel, or lunch, despatched, the white residents get into their pyjamas and take a siesta till three or four o'clock. A couple of hours or so are then devoted to business, and towards sunset the male portion of the population meet at the Harmonie' to chat and drink pijtjes. Billiards is the most violent exercise taken; cricket, bowls, and lawn-tennis are unknown" (vol. ii. p. 156).

Among the pleasant reminiscences of the travellers. about their travels in the north of Celebes will doubtless be those of their visits to the Tondano Lake with its pretty waterfall; to Talisse Island, where at "Wallace Bay" the habits of the maleo (Megacephalon malco) were observed, and a good store of their eggs and bodies were collected; and to Kema, where a great babiroussa hunt was held.

The name Moluccas, at one time restricted to the little chain of volcanic islets lying off the western coast of Gilolo, of which Ternate is the chief, now includes all the islands between Celebes and the Papuan group. As regards magnificence of scenery, Ternate is perhaps the finest harbour in the Dutch Indies. The Resident, Mr. Morris, kept a large aviary of rare birds, amongst which the gems were two superb specimens both full-plumaged males of the twelve-wired bird of paradise. These exquisite creatures were fed on the fruit of the pandanus, with an occasional cockroach as a bonne bouche. "The feelings of admiration with which I watched these birds, which are among the most beautiful of all living beings, I need not," says the writer, "attempt to describe." The concluding chapters of this volume bring us to New Guinea, the very home of paradise birds. The portion of this great island visited was the western half, that claimed by the Dutch; which, from the variation in species from island to island, and the peculiarity of these birds of paradise, is perhaps the most interesting to a naturalist. A safe anchorage was secured at the extreme east end of the Island of Batanta, in "Marchesa Bay." The first ramble on shore was unsuccessful.

Scram

bling over the mangroves' slimy roots, and struggling up to their knees in liquid ooze, they found that the land was hard to reach; the shore rose steeply from the sea, and the dripping wet jungle made progress all the more difficult. The party returned disappointed to the yacht, to find that some of the hunters were already back, equally empty-handed. Presently, however, "Usman and his compagnon de chasse appeared triumphant, carefully carrying a prize that we had hoped, but hardly expected, to obtain the curious and exquisitely lovely little Diphyllodes wilsoni, smallest of all the birds of paradise. Behind the head, a ruff of canary-coloured feathers stands

6

erect above the scarlet back and wings. The breast is covered by a shield of glossy green plumes, which towards the throat are marked with metallic green, and violet spots of extraordinary brilliancy. The two centre feathers of the tail, prolonged for five or six inches beyond the others, cross one another, and are curved into a complete circle of bright steely purple. But the chief peculiarity of the bird is the head, which is bald from the vertex backwards, the bare skin being of the brightest imaginable cobalt blue (the figure in Gould's Birds of New Guinea' gives no notion of the extreme brilliancy of the colouring of this part). The bizarre effect thus produced is still further heightened by two fine lines of feathers which, running lengthways and from side to side, form a dark cross upon the brilliant azure background. I could hardly make up my mind to skin this little ornithological rainbow, whose exquisite plumage it seemed almost a sacrilege to disarrange, but the climate of New Guinea allows of but little delay in this operation, and I set about my task at once. The bird had been scarcely injured by the shot, and I succeeded in making a perfect skin of it " (vol. ii. p. 254).

Dorei Bay, well known as the settlement of the Dutch missionaries, and the residence of Mr. Wallace in 1858, was the next station. Some few miles south of Dorei Bay is Andai, a small village nestling at the foot of the Arfak Mountains. The dense forests that clothe these mountains are the favoured haunts of such magnificent paradise birds as the great velvet-black Epimachus, with its tail a yard in length; the Astrapia, in its uniform of dark violet, faced with golden-green and copper; and the orange-coloured Xanthomelus. There D'Albertis had shot his Drepanornis, with its two fan-like tufts, one flame-cloured, the other tipped with metallic violet; and there Beccari braved the climate and made such splendid collections. The summits of the mountains were less than ten miles from where the yacht was, and yet this land of promise could not be entered. Our readers must seek the reason why in the narrative: here we can only add that the homeward voyage had begun.

In so short a sketch it is simply impossible to do more than give the reader an idea of what he may expect to find within the pages of these volumes. Students of geography, ethnology, and, above all, zoology, will discover therein a great deal that is of interest, and also much that is novel; and every reader will be pleased by the writer's freshness of style and keen enjoyment of Nature. To enjoy travelling, especially in the tropics, one must be of an equable, not to say of a cheerful, frame of mind. We close the perusal of Dr. Guillemard's delightful volumes with the impression that the company on board the yacht Marchesa was certainly of this kind.

In several appendixes to Volume II. there are lists of the birds met with in the various regions visited, and of the shells. There is also a list of the Rhopalocera collected in the Eastern Archipelago, and of the languages of Sulu, of Waigiou, and of Jobi Island. Tables are given of the total export in 1884 of the chief articles of produce in the Netherlands India, North and South Celebes, Amboyna, and Ternate.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION THE annual Report of Prof. Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, has just been issued. It relates to the period from July 1, 1885, to the close of June 1886, and includes, in addition to the account of the operations of the Institution itself, a summary of the work done by the branches of the public service placed by Congress under its charge, namely, the National Museum and the Bureau of Ethnology. To this is added a sketch of the work of the U.S. Fish Commission, which is also under Prof. Baird's charge, and of that of the U.S. Geological Survey, which, although independent of the Smithsonian Institution, is in close relation with it by

reason of its field of exploration, and especially through the valuable accessions of material furnished by it to the National Museum.

With regard to the Smithsonian Institution itself there is not much to be said, except that its usual operations were steadily carried on during the year, with a marked increase in routine work. In the way of explorations there was less activity in the year 1886 than there has been in some previous years, but important collections of objects of scientific interest were received from various parts of America and Asia. Of the different classes of works issued by the Institution, the most valuable are the quarto "Contributions to Knowledge." A work in this series, entitled "Researches upon the Venoms of Poisonous Serpents," by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell and Dr. E. T. Reichert, was printed during the past year, and will soon be ready for distribution. Among the "Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections" of 1885-86 may be mentioned "A Catalogue of Scientific and Technical Periodicals (1665 to 1882), together with Chronological Tables, and a CheckList," "The Scientific Writings of Joseph Henry" (not yet published, but entirely stereotyped), "Index to the Literature of Uranium, 1789-1885 (one of a series of bibliographies especially directed to the indexing of chemical literature), and "Accounts" of the progress of astronomy, chemistry, physics, geography, anthropology, and other sciences in 1885. The Smithsonian Institution has also issued the Bulletins and Reports of the Proceedings of the National Museum, and valuable publications of the Bureau of Ethnology.

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It is well known that in bequeathing to the United States the fund with which the Smithsonian Institution was established, Mr. Smithson stipulated that his bequest should be devoted to the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." The Institution has always complied with this condition in a most liberal spirit, and now its system of "free exchanges" has reached vast proportions. For the year ended June 30, 1886, the receipts for foreign transmission were 94,093 packages, weighing 195,404 pounds. The transmission filled 764 boxes, having an aggregate bulk of 5208 cubic feet. For domestic exchanges the number of parcels received and distributed during the fiscal year was 14,496, of which 2533 parcels (or about one-sixth) were received for the library of the Institution. Twenty years ago the Institution was made by law the agent of the United States Government for conducting the international exchanges of public official documents between it and foreign Governments, and during the past year 29 boxes, containing 56,229 packages, were received for Government exchanges, and 114 boxes were sent abroad. The exchange system of the Institution is found to be of so much public service that Congress supports it by an annual grant of 10,000 dollars.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the report is that which relates to the National Museum. It is five years since the work of moving into the new Museum building was begun. Two years ago the Director reported that the packing-boxes, several thousand in number, containing the accumulations of many previous years, had for the most part been unpacked, and that the entire floor space of the building would soon be occupied by exhibition collections. During the past year this result was attained, and (with the exception of one corner of one of the central halls still occupied by one or two collections received at the close of the New Orleans Exhibition, and which have not been opened on account of delay in preparation of cases for their reception) the entire floor space of about 100,000 square feet is open to the public, and the collections arranged in accordance with the provisional plan of installation. The work of mounting and labelling is still in progress, and each month shows marked advances.

The development of the Museum during the past year was unexpectedly great. About fifteen hundred separate lots of specimens were received. A certain proportion of

these were obtained from Government expeditions and surveys, and material of perhaps equal value through exchange, but by far the largest part of the increase, both in quantity and value, was in the form of gifts.

A census of the collections made in 1884 showed an estimated total of 1,471,000 "lots" of specimens in the Museum. The number at the present time is 2,420,934. The total number of "lots" of specimens received during the year and separately entered on the record of accessions was 1496, including 6890 separate packages. The construction of cases was constantly in progress, and during the year there were received and fitted for use and placed in the exhibition halls 84 cases, chiefly of the standard patterns. Forty-five storage cases were made for use in the laboratories, 5400 wooden drawers and trays, and 54,000 pasteboard trays. There were also purchased 3504 glass jars, for storage and exhibition of alcoholic specimens, and 24 barrels (1115 gallons) of 98 per cent. alcohol.

The distribution of duplicates was much the same as in previous years. About twenty-four thousand specimens were sent out to 118 institutions and societies: those to institutions in the United States are generally gifts, though many were sent in the way of exchange. For all foreign sendings, equivalents in the way of exchange were received or promised.

Many interesting details are given as to the various Departments in which the collections of the Museum are grouped. In the Department of Arts and Industries a prominent place is held by the section of textiles, which includes a very full series of the animal and vegetable fibres used throughout the world, together with good representations of devices for spinning and weaving, and of the various products of the textile industries. This collection is nearly all permanently installed, provided with printed labels, and illustrated by diagrams. For lack of room, fully half of the material ready for exhibition has been stored away, and the cases prepared for its display are in boxes in the Armoury building. The space assigned to the exhibition series is still so crowded that the objects cannot be satisfactorily examined. To the collection of food substances, in the same Department, is assigned a large quantity of unassorted material. The few cases

now on exhibition contain the foods of the North American Indians, of Japan and China, and some of the more curious and unusual articles of diet. There are also two cases of educational importance, which exhibit graphically the composition of the human body and its daily expenditure of tissues, and the manner in which this is compensated for by daily rations of food. This collection is modelled after the famous collection of a similar character prepared by Dr. Lankester and others for the Bethnal Green Museum in London. It is, however, based upon an entirely new series of analyses, and upon a revised plan prepared by Prof. W. O. Atwater, of the Wesleyan University and corresponds to the latest views in physiological chemistry. The collections in chemical technology already have a good nucleus, and the increase during the year in the collections of materia medica was greater than during any previous year except the first. The fisheries collection was opened to the public in May 1884, and since that time there has been constant improvement in the condition of the material exhibited. Some gaps in the series of illustrations of foreign fisheries have been filled by collections received from the Governments of Siam and Japan, and by the extensive collections from Great Britain, Sweden, Spain, France, Holland, and Greece, acquired at the close of the London Exhibition.

Of the collection of historic relics in the Department of Arts and Industries, we learn that it includes several hundred objects of national interest connected with the history of soldiers, statesmen, and important events. Closely related to the historical collection is the series illustrating the history of steam transportation, under the