New Zealand Institute. 543 



The interesting matter to the linguist and anthropologist in the fol- 

 lowing dictionary is that the language is pure Polynesian. Generally the 

 inhabitants of the Paumotu Archipelago speak a dialect containing some 

 element, foreign to the Polynesian tongue ; but in Mangareva the speech 

 is nearly identical with the Maori of New Zealand, thousands of miles 

 distant to the westward. 



I trust that many a riddle of Maori scholars may be solved by this 

 dictionary of Mangareva. 



A second edition of the catalogue of the library of the 

 Colonial Museum has been published. This is a work of 160 

 pages, and the supplement, which will contain the recent 

 additions, is well advanced for press, and also an alphabetical 

 index of authors' names. This library contains books belong- 

 ing to the New Zealand Institute, the Geological Survey 

 Department, the Colonial Museum (acquired either as dona- 

 tions or deposits), and the Wellington Philosophical Society. 

 Books belonging to the Wellington Philosophical Society are 

 marked with S. after date of publication. As some delay has 

 occurred in the printing of this the second edition of the 

 Museum catalogue, a very considerable number of additions 

 have been made to the library since the manuscript was sent 

 to press. These additions will be published in a supple- 

 mentary catalogue as soon as possible after the rearrange- 

 ment of the books has been completed. Owing to the occu- 

 pation of the shelves by the large Patent Library (which has 

 now been removed), it was impossible until the present time 

 to arrange this very valuable scientific library in a proper 

 manner for reference. The Manager wishes to express his 

 cordial thanks to friends in many parts of the world who 

 have aided in the collection, which when properly arranged 

 should prove of immense value to the colony as a means of 

 reference. 



The library is now undergoing complete rearrangement in 

 accordance with the new catalogue. The room, which is also 

 the lecture-hall, has ample accommodation for readers who 

 desire to study the works of reference. 



Museum. 



Since last report 107 entries have been made in the regis- 

 ter of collections added to the Museum, comprising about five 

 hundred specimens, a full list of which will be published in 

 the usual form in due course. The whole of the collections, 

 and especially the birds and fishes, which are most liable to 

 suffer from damp, have been thoroughly cleaned and fresh 

 preservatives applied. The work of renaming and relabelling 

 in a more distinct manner is also in progress. The large relief 

 model illustrating the geological structure of New Zealand 

 has been cleaned and recoloured, and is now enclosed in a 



