458 Voyage of the Novara. 



carefully borne in mind, with reference to the power of pro- 

 pagating the plant), besides a large quantity of fruits and 

 flowers of tropical plants, preserved in acetic acid or alcohol, 

 as also Indian and Chinese drugs, and specimens of orna- 

 mental and useful woods. 



The mineralogical, petrographical, and palseontological col- 

 lections consist of several thousand specimens of mineralogy 

 and petrifactions, part collected by the geologist himself, part 

 presented by scientific Institutes, or private donors, or pur- 

 chased. 



The ethnographic collection embraces 376 objects, such as 

 weapons of the most diverse form, house utensils and imple- 

 ments of labom% ornaments, amulets, carvings, idols, head- 

 gears, masks, pieces of clothing, models, textile fabrics, 

 manufactm'es in bark, musical instruments, Cingalese manu- 

 scripts, as also fragments of palm-leaves, bamboo-reeds, and 

 bark, all variously transcribed. Some of these various ob- 

 jects are the more interesting, as furnishing, so to speak, the 

 last proofs of the aboriginal skill which, in proportion to the 

 increasing intercourse of the savage tribes with European 

 civilization, is i^pidly diminishing, and in all the principal 

 colonies may be considered as already extinguished. 



The anthropological collection consists of 100 skulls of 

 various races of men, and includes a complete Bushman-skele- 

 ton, besides a great variety of interesting physiological and 

 pathologico-anatomical preparations. 



But it is not merely in its general, nautical, scientific, and 



