Occasional Notes. 147 
predecessor in the curatorship, who planned and de- 
signed the gardens so wisely that the after labour has, 
according to Dr. SCHOMBURGK, been comparatively 
light. He also dwelt on the fa6t that the cordial and 
earnest support of the members of the Board of Gover- 
nors of the gardens had been of the very greatest assist- 
ance to him in his labours. He added — and those who 
have authority over our own gardens may, on the fortu- 
nate day when they have sufficient funds at their dis- 
posal, take a hint from the remark — that '' the founding 
of this Museum of Economic Botany has been one of the 
many objects of my great solicitude. The high estima- 
tion in which, I feel proud to say, it is held by the public, 
and the never failing interest it excites and maintains 
would have been a substantial reward for all the pains 
I have taken to make it what it is." 
Indian Children's Games. — The games of Indian chil- 
dren, when untouched by European civilization, appear, 
as I have elsewhere said, tentative imitations of such 
things as will be their serious occupations in after life- 
hunting and fishing in the case of the boys, cooking in 
the case of the girls. But there must be in these, as in 
children elsewhere, a natural element of mere sportive- 
ness, however indiscernible this may be to the eye of the 
stranger. For as soon as these children are brought 
nto contact with civilization, either at the mission sta- 
tions or elsewhere, as soon, that is, as the stern necessity 
of learning to hunt and learning housewifely cares is no 
longer allowed to occupy their whole time, then the 
T 2 
