7510 Skulls. 



generally the characters of a salt-water swamp, with glistening white patches of 

 incrusting salt, shallow lagoons and tawny spaces, where the curlews slalk about like 

 so many diminutive ostriches, and where, by mutual agreement, avocets, sandpipers 

 and godwits assemble for a diligent search after palatable worms. Across this weary 

 waste mules and donkeys wend their way in single file along the narrow paths, and 

 here and there a dark blue dot points out some patient Chinaman digging land-crabs 

 for his supper. As we are going oflF to the ship the poor fishermen, in great dog-skin 

 boots, come in through the surf, in rude log-built catamarans: weary and dripping, 

 they fling down on the sand great heaps of turbot and plaice, soles and skate; they 

 also fling down dead surf ducks (Oideinia nigra) in astonishing numbers, which ihey 

 say were drowned in the gale and got foul of their nets. These ducks are not un- 

 common all along the Shan-tung coast: they are ungainly surf-loving birds, seeking 

 safety from the sportsman chiefly in diving, and are very difficult to hit; on the flash 

 of the gun ibey dive under the water, hardly ever waiting for the report: they fly in a 

 straight line just above the surface, in a heavy and awkward manner. As articles of 

 food they are abominable, their flesh being hard, dark, dry and fishy. — Arthur 

 Adams. 



Ramhles in search of Skulls. By Arthur Adams, Esq., F.L.S., &c. 



The remark of the "needy knifegrinder" to the compassioiiale 

 gentleman who inquired into his history, " Story ! God bless you, I 

 have none to tell," will equally apply to me. And yet, as I meditate 

 over a quiet pipe in my floating sanctum, each bone and skull that 

 hangs around me recalls certain little incidents which I am unwilling 

 to keep entirely to myself. That little cramped foot reminds me of 

 the bombardment of Canton, and was taken from an unfortunate 

 woman who was killed by one of our shells. That baby-skeleton 

 points to the prevalence of infanticide in China, for its owner was 

 drowned in the Pearl River by its unnatural parent. That mummified 

 fcetal deer brings before my mind's eye the shaven-pated doctors of 

 Japan, who find in such as that a valuable remedy. 



I confess to a weakness for skulls : from the simple cartilaginous 

 rudiment of the cultle-fish to the ample dome where intellect once sat 

 supreme, all skulls have great attractions in my eyes. When, there- 

 fore, I "pitch my foot" against a skull, like Hamlet, Prince of Den- 

 mark, I take it up and regard it with speculative interest. I touch 

 lightly, 'however, on the bleached human skulls I obtained by the 

 banks of the Pearl River ; suffice it to say that several, in beautiful 

 preservation, adorn my collection. In one I discovered in a "chatty" 

 on the green summit of Tiger Island a snake had formed her nest ; 

 and another in my possession was the plaything of little Chinese 

 children, who were rolling it about on the ground. 



