190 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
dramatic pictures I have seen. Another large painting pictured 
the burning and plundering of a British ship by the Maoris. 
That evening we took supper with Mr. and Mrs. Griffin, and 
found new reasons for wondering at the versatility of this re- 
markable man. He showed us a very fine painting of a pair of 
tigers, his own work, which had been accepted by the Royal 
Academy. He is apparently a real connoisseur in art, and his 
house is a marvelous treasury of choice things from various parts 
of the world. Among other things, he showed us two very large 
porcelain vases from China, each about five feet high, two large 
vases from Japan which were thought by the auctioneer to be of 
papier maché but they proved to be silver of rare workmanship, 
a very ancient bronze vase (Japanese), carved ivory boxes of 
texture so delicate as to resemble fine lace, smelling bottles en- 
crusted with jewels, exquisite miniatures on ivory and many other 
articles of rare value. His main interest, however, seems to be 
in Egyptology and he is evidently a past master in deciphering 
ancient Egyptian inscriptions; he has written a dictionary of 
which he showed us the original manuscript, also volumes of trans- 
lations of various inscriptions which he had been requested by ex- 
plorers to make. He also showed us many valuable secarabs, an 
exquisite Venus in onyx, and other things taken from Egyptian 
tombs. 
Taking it all in all we felt that in far away New Zealand we 
had encountered one of the most versatile and learned men we 
had ever met in all our travels. His home is a veritable museum 
of art and his wife seems to take great pride in it; but we could 
not help feeling that it must take a good deal of time and eare to 
keep these numerous treasures properly dusted and that this 
priceless collection would be in great hazard were there children 
running about. 
Mr. Hamilton, who was with us that evening, is connected with 
the Dominion museum at Wellington and is himself an exceeding- 
ly interesting man. He was a member of Sir Douglas Mawson’s 
Antarctic Expedition, going as taxidermist. During the war, he 
served in England as a member of a special commission organized 
to circumvent the German submarines. 
On July 27 Wylie left for Wellington with the intention of 
stopping off at several points of interest en route. After seeing 
him off, I called on Professor Wilson of the University College. 
He had a museum of well selected animal types and good labora- 
