36 
MERMAN AND MERMAID. 
Entering a Chinaman’s shop in the crowded 
part of the town to make some purchases, we 
saw a wonderful collection of curiosities. Among 
these were some carved statues of great value and 
interest, but most curious to us were a mummi- 
fied merman and mermaid. These I had always 
thought to be fabulous creations of simple- 
minded seafarers, but those we saw w r ere cer- 
tainly sufficient to give origin to the tales we 
have heard of them. The upper part of the 
body is quite human in form, and is smooth- 
skinned ; the face is ape-like, but human enough 
to suggest the comparison, only there is no hair 
on the head. The fore-limbs are arms with five 
fingers. The lower part of the body is that of a 
fish with scales and fins. 
We saw also a cargo of birds just arrived from 
New Guinea, and ready for despatch to Europe 
—2000 skins of the orange-feathered bird of 
paradise, 800 of the king-bird, and a various lot 
of others. This, remember, was only one cargo, 
and the traffic will go on the whole season. 
Such a fearful slaughter of these lovely birds is 
really distressing. Soon we shall have lost off 
the face of the globe these unique and most 
gorgeous of the feathered tribes. There were 
also some skins of the rare six-shafted or golden 
