CHAP. I1.] FROM PORTSMOUTH TO TENERIFFE. 119 
Table-cases containing a fine collection of shells are placed 
along the centre of the rooms, and upright cases filled with 
stuffed mammals and birds and variously preserved reptiles and 
fishes are ranged along the walls. The collection of mammalia 
is rich in insectivora—moles, shrews, and the like; and among 
the scarcer mammals are two manatees, and good examples of 
the aye-aye, and of the singular little African otter-like ani- 
mal, Potamogale velox. The collection of birds is particularly 
good. The specimens are well stuffed and mounted, and well 
arranged. This collection belongs to the present king, and was 
chiefly brought together by him and his brother. It contains 
many rarities: Didunculus strigirostris, a good set of birds 
of paradise, including Semiopteryx, and a fine specimen of the 
great auk, Alca impennis, in excellent plumage and preserva- 
tion, given to King Luiz by his brother-in-law, the King of 
Italy. The King of Portugal is very fond of natural history, 
and has a good general knowledge of it. He did us the honor 
to visit the ship when we were at Lisbon, and expressed him- 
self greatly interested in the expedition. 
The Botanic Garden is near the Palace of the Ajuda. It 
seems to have been very fine at one time, for there is a good 
range of glass, and the handsome terraces have been laid out 
and decorated with statuary and fountains with some taste, and 
evidently at great expense; but the garden has fallen into dis- 
use for scientific purposes, and has been allowed to get into dis- 
order and disrepair; and only a beautiful group or two of date- 
palms, and a splendid dragon-tree, with a head thirty feet in 
diameter, still maintain a trace of its former character. It is 
intended to lay out a piece of ground near the new Polytechnic 
School as a garden for teaching purposes, and I believe the old 
Botanic Garden will probably be merged in the grounds of the 
palace. 
There is a very complete Meteorological and Magnetic Ob- 
servatory, now under the energetic management of MM. J.C. 
