ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK IX EUROPE. 



55 



Museums of ethnography are far more common in Europe 

 than with us. There are, perhaps, no large cities without such an 

 institution, and many small towns have fine collections. In the 

 little kingdom of Holland alone there are fully a half-dozen 

 ethnographic museums of importance, the chief one being at 

 Leyden. This city is the main educational town of Holland, and 

 its university, always fa- 

 mous for its corps of teach- 

 ers, still holds its rank as a 

 finely manned institution of 

 learning. Besides the uni- 

 versity, the town boasts of 

 one of the best museums of 

 antiquities in the world, par- 

 ticularly rich in Egyptian 

 and Javanese objects, and 

 the ethnographic museum, 

 which in some respects is 

 unsurpassed. Like many of 

 the great collections in Eu- 

 rope, the latter is unfortu- 

 nate in its housing. The 

 part usually shown to visit- 

 ors comprises the wonder- 

 fully rich collections from 

 the South seas and the East 

 Indies. These are in ex- 

 ceedingly crowded and ill- 

 lighted cpiarters, and a satisfactory display is impossible in the 

 present building. The African collections are in a second build- 

 ing as little suited to display as the first, and the rich series from 

 Asia are stored in yet a third building. It is much to be de- 

 sired that this collection might be brought together under one 

 roof in a building of suitable character and well lighted and 

 suitably cased. We have already referred to the wonderful series 

 of objects from the South seas and the Indies. Many of them, 

 brought home by the early navigators, are old. and represent the 

 native arts before they were affected by white influence. Espe- 

 cially fine are the carved work, weapons, armor, and articles of 

 dress and adornment. Xew Guinea is finely represented by ob- 

 jects from different parts, well illustrating the local variation in 

 arts. The specimens from Sumatra. Engano, Xias, Borneo, and 

 Java illustrate the whole life of the natives. The collection of 

 k rises, or dirks, is probably the largest in the world, and many 

 of the specimens are masterpieces of metal-work, and the hilts 

 and sheaths are crusted with precious stones. Dr. Serrurier, the 



Dr. J. D. E. Schitzltz. 



