498 A NATURALIST ON THE " CHALLENGER." 



clothes, and was girt with a rudimentary sword for the occasion, 

 yet the Polynesian king arrived in a black frock coat, white 

 waistcoat, and straw hat. To a confirmed " agriologist " the 

 tables seemed completely turned on European civilization. 



The king took the liveliest interest in the special work of 

 the " Challenger/' and was almost the only distinguished visitor 

 of the many to whom I had exhibited microscopical objects 

 during our voyage., who recognised the well-known anchors in 

 the skin of the Holothurian Synapta, and named them at first 

 glance. These anchors stood us in good stead at all the ports 

 visited, and were described in all the colonial newspapers as 

 belonging to the " Admiralty worm," supposed to be the most 

 wonderful of the deep-sea discoveries of the Expedition. 



There is a most excellent musical band at Honolulu, com- 

 posed almost entirely of Hawaians, and numbering 20 or 30 

 performers, who execute complicated European music with 

 accuracy and most pleasing effect. No one can doubt after 

 listening to this band, that the Polynesian ear is as capable of 

 appreciating the details of music as the European. It will be 

 interesting to observe in the future, whether the Chinese and 

 Japanese, whose music is so \ery different from that of Europe, 

 and who profess to dislike Western music, and now at least 

 much prefer their own, will develope a similar capacity, and 

 changed appreciation in the future. The Hawaians seem to be 

 ahead of some of our own colonists in the matter of music, and 

 have a better band than existed at the time of our visit to New 

 South Wales, even in Sydney. 



Whilst the ship was at Honolulu, I visited the north-east 

 side of the island, and collected at Waimanalo, on the estate of 

 Mr. John Cummins, a series of native skulls from a deserted 

 burial-place. The burials are amongst dunes of calcareous sand, 

 and the bones are exposed by the shifting of the sands by the 

 wind. 



The burials are often on the sides of the gullies, between the 

 dunes. They have probably been made in this locality, because 

 of the ease with which the sand is excavated. Similar burials 

 occur at various spots around the coast of Oahu, and I know of 

 no place where so abundant material is ready at hand for the 



