Rcp07i of a Journey Arotind the ]]\->}id. 265 



artist of the Bishop Museum, has painted casts of unique speci- 

 mens of carved wood, stone or bone implements that could not be 

 detected on a museum shelf from the original, even with that original 

 by its side. lu biological collections the process is necessary in the 

 case of fruits, and especially of fishes, and it was Mr. Thompson's 

 work on the magnificent collection of Hawaiian fishes in the Bishop 

 Museum that led us to complete a series of stone implements (for 

 example) with casts of members of the series of which we could 

 only borrow the unique specimen. lu such a series I would prefer 

 to have an unpainted cast than none, and the plain cast is better 

 than one badly painted, as has been too common in museums. 



The wonderfully colored fish of the Hawaiian waters can be 

 well preserved only in this way. No preservative known will pre- 

 vent the destruction of the tints so peculiar a beauty of the living 

 fish. A snake crowded into a bottle is a poor substitute for the 

 same reptile cast in a life-like attitude and artistically colored. 

 How much easier does an inanimate object, like an idol, a bowl, a 

 club, lend itself to this treatment! We do not hesitate to study 

 the plaster casts of the glorious creations of the Greek sculptor, 

 not merely because there is only one original, but because in many 

 cases the cast is nearer the artist's creation when new, and the 

 stains of time and neglect, and the jointures of the restorer are 

 all eliminated. 



The time ma}' come when all important museums will photo- 

 graph their collections on scale, bearing the museum number, for 

 exchange wath other museums in the same line and using the same 

 method. We have at least one museum that has furnished good 

 photographs of all specimens from our Pacific region in their cases. 

 In these days of universal photography it is not difficult to get 

 good pictures of any particular specimen desired, and most museums 

 are very obliging in this matter: only care must be taken that the 

 print is a permanent one if it is to be filed awa}- with its card index. 



So man}' of the records of the past scattered through our mu- 

 seums perforce turn our thoughts to the future. What is to be done 

 when all specimens of the work of primitive races have been 

 gathered into museums? The day when all work of unadulterated 

 Polynesia will cease is quite within sight. Hawaii has thrown awav 



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