THE GENESIS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 363 



general .sketches, but accurate likenesses of particular individuals — so faitliful, in- 

 deed, although but the work of a few minutes in the bands of our skilful artists, 

 that the natives would cry out witb surprise the uiiuie of the ivulividual when a 

 sketch was shown them. 



Besides historical and ethnographical drawings, the sketches of objects in natural 

 history arc very numerous ; and they embrace all departments of natural science, 

 including some geological sketches. The variety and beauty of marine animals in 

 the coral seas of the Pacific are beyond descriiition. Like birds in our forests, fish 

 of rich colors and strange forms sport among the coral groves ; and various mollusca — 

 animals low in the scale of organization — cover the bottom with living flowers. A 

 new world of beings is here oi)ened to an inhabitant of our cold climate, and many 

 of these productions are so unlike the ordinary forms of life that, but for our eyes, 

 we could scarcely believe in their existence. Many of them are among the most 

 brilliant and beautiful f)bjects d^a^^ n and colored by Mr. Drayton. Among the geo- 

 logical sketches by Mr. Drayton the representations of the great crater of LuaPele, 

 especially the night scenes of its l)oiling lakes of lava, are highly valuable. There 

 is probably no volcano in the world where the }>rocesses of volcanic actions are more 

 laid open to view, and on this account these sketches are very unlike the ordinary 

 pictures oi a burning mountain, and far more interesting to the geologists. Scarcely 

 less interesting than these volcanic scenes are the views taken among the Andes of 

 Peru and Chili. 



The following list gives more particularly the number of drawings in the several 

 departments. The whole nirmber of distinct objects or scenes delineated is 2,100. Of 

 these 200 are portraits, 180 plants, 75 reptiles, 260 fish, 850 mollusca, and over 500 

 landscapes and historical sketches. The drawings of Crustacea, corals, birds, and 

 quadrupeds were mostly by the naturalists in charge of these departments, and are 

 not here enumerated. 



The sketches, to which we have referred, have been made in the following difl^"erent 

 regions, and they have been the more or less complete according to the length of time 

 spent at these places. It should l)e observed that the several groups of islands in the 

 Pacific, although not far distant from one another, have each marked peculiarities 

 in the physiognomy, dress, domestic manners, etc., of their inhabitants. 



(1) Madeira, (2) Cape Yerde, (3) Riode .Janeiro, (4) Rio Negro, Patagonia, (5) Terra 

 del Fuego, (6) Chile, (7) Peru, (8) several islands of the Low Archipelago, (9) Society 

 Islands, (10) Navigator Islands, (11) New Zealand, (12) New Holland, (13) Tonga 

 Tabu, (14) Fiji Islands, (15) Kingsmill Islands, (16) Sandwich Islands, (17) Oregon 

 Territory, (18) Philippine Islands, (19) Sooloo Sea, (20) Singapore, (21) Cape Town, 

 (22) St. Helena — besides some small scattered islands in the Pacific unnoticed in 

 this enumeration. Of these places, the i>i(torial account of the Fiji and Sandwich 

 Islands and Oregon Territory is the most full. 



The drawings, as-, has been remarked, are not linished. To complete them on the 

 spot woTild have been impracticable where so many things equally important were 

 demanding immediate attention, and had it been attempted the sketches could not 

 have exceeded one-fourth their present number. They are so far complete, however, 

 that they might in a short time be finished up by the artists. 



In addition to sketching, Mr. Drayton has written doAvn the music of the natives 

 at many of the islands, and the note or tones which the different nations emi)loy in 

 speaking. 



On nearing land the artists were besides employed in drawing headlands, and of 

 them there are nearly 500 in addition to the other sketches. 



