COLOMBO. 249 



themselves as those who worked for me at Colombo. They seemed 

 able to get anything I asked for if it was anywhere to be found. 



In due time, I began to visit the fish market every morning 

 when the fish were brought in. 



The market itself is a poor affair every way, badly situated, 

 wretchedly appointed, dirty and foul smelling to an uncommon de- 

 gree. Why the principal fish market of Colombo should be so far 

 beneath comparison with those of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras I 

 cannot divine. A good building in a suitable locality, would make 

 it one of the finest sights of the Queen City. At present, the mar- 

 ket is redeemed fi'om utter iinattractiveness only by the magnifi- 

 cent array of fishes, great and small. I believe the fauna of Ceylon 

 comprises a gi-eater variety of both vertebrate and invertebrate 

 forms, than any other locality of twice its area. 



At the fix'st opportunity I visited the Government Museum, and 

 ■was very pleasantly received by the Director, Dr. A. Haly, whom, 

 upon continued acquaintance, I found to be very genial and oblig- 

 ing, and scientifically fitted for the duties of the position he oc- 

 cupies. I quite en^ded him his beautiful new building, well 

 stocked library of scientific works, his airy office and laboratory, 

 and above all, an island teeming with animal life to draw upon 

 for specimens wdth which to fill his maliogany and plate-glass 

 cases. 



The building is really a beautiful structure, designed by the 

 government architect, and is almost a model of its kind. I was 

 greatly surprised that this, the handsomest modern structure in all 

 the East Indies, cost only £12,000. It is quite new, and as yet the 

 collections are very small ; but a few years will show great change 

 in this respect. I was sorry to see that the institution has not on 

 its staff of workers a man thoroughly skilled in all the latest 

 methods of taxidenny and osteology, with years of working expe- 

 rience to fall back upon in the business of collecting, preserving,, 

 and mounting specimens of all kinds. 



At the time of my visit, the work of mounting specimens was 

 done by cheap and clumsy natives, who Avere very poorly fitted for 

 their task. It cut me to the heart to see a deer skeleton mounted, 

 in that humid climate, with iron wire instead of brass, and the skin 

 of a seven-foot shark loaded at the mouth as if it were a cannon. 

 Somehow, all the museum people of the East Indies think that 

 native preparateurs are good enough, and the result is the worst 

 mounted specimens in existence, if I except the fishes in the Mad- 



