Dr. Hertz, from his experiments on oscillating circuits, came to the conclusion that iron was not magnetic for very rapid frequencies; and, to quote from Fleming's abstract of Hertz's researches (vol. i., p. 416), “Hertz supposed that, as the self-inductance of iron wires is for slow alternations from eight to ten times that of copper wires, therefore a short iron wire would balance a long copper one; but this was not found to be the case, and he concludes that, owing to the great rapidity of the alternations, the magnetism of the iron is unable to follow them, and therefore has no effect on the self-induction.” And again, p. 423: “When the wire was surrounded by an iron tube, or when it was replaced by an iron wire, no perceptible effect was obtained, confirming the conclusion previously arrived at that the magnetism of the iron is unable to follow such rapid oscillations, and therefore exerts no appreciable effect.”

Steefan has, however, shown that we could expect very little alteration in the inductance of a wire, even if it were magnetic, on account of the greater concentration of the current in a magnetic conductor on the surface of the wire.

Professor J. J. Thomson (“Recent Researches,” p. 322, and “Philosophical Magazine,” 1891, p. 457) has shown that an iron cylinder placed in a solenoid absorbs considerably more energy than a similar non-magnetic conductor of equal conductivity, on account of the higher permeability of the iron.

J. Trowbridge (“Damping of Electric Oscillations”: Phil. Mag., December, 1891) has shown that the resistance of iron wires damps electrical energy very considerably, and has deduced that iron must have a fairly high permeability to account for the effects observed.

Lastly, we have the statement, in the last page of Gray's “Absolute Measurements,” that the damping of oscillations in a resonator is greater when the wire is of iron than when it is of copper.

In order to investigate the effect of “magnetic penetration” in iron for fields varying very much more rapidly than could be obtained with the use of the “time apparatus,” the readiest means to hand for obtaining a very rapid oscillatory current was the ordinary leyden-jar discharge.

The subject of the magnetization of iron in these fields has been very little touched upon since the time that Henry experimented on the effect of leyden-jar discharges on the magnetization of steel needles.

In the experiments that follow it will be shown that iron is strongly magnetic in rapidly-varying fields, even when the frequency is over 100,000,000 per second.

A solenoid was wound on a small glass tube, sixty turns of wire, seven turns to the centimetre. A leyden-jar, charged up to a convenient potential by a Voss machine, discharged through this solenoid, and any iron, whether solid or finely divided, placed inside the solenoid was always more or less magnetized by the discharge.

Plate XLVIII., Fig. 1.

C. ordinary leyden-jar; A is solenoid; S, spark-gap.

The whole of the discharge passed through solenoid A. After the discharge had passed the needles were examined by means of a small mirror magnetometer. As this magnetometer is used in all future experiments for testing the magnetization of needles, the construction is briefly explained. It was made on the pattern set forth in Gray's “Absolute Measurements,” vol. ii., p. 79. The needle was small, and arranged in a cavity, so that it was nearly dead-beat. The deflection was increased by means of a lamp and scale in the ordinary way. The value of the horizontal component at the needle was 0.22, and remained practically constant, as there were no masses of iron in the vicinity.

It was first settled that the needle placed in the solenoid was unaffected by the charging current from the Voss. The Voss was turned so as to charge up the jars just below the potential necessary to spark across knobs at S. The needle was then removed and tested by the magnetometer. No effect was observed.

The effect of discharges on needles of different diameters was first investigated. Length of needles, 7cm.:—

It will be observed from these experiments that the deflection is very nearly proportional to the diameter of the wire. This is to be expected, as the magnetizing forces are confined to a thin skin of the substance. The amount of the magnetization of the wire is proportional to the surface of the iron, and not to its sectional area, as it is for steady currents. In order to show that the effect was a surface one, and did not

penetrate any depth, a cylinder of thin copper was placed over the needle. The needle gave no appreciable deflection, showing that the copper cylinder completely screened off any effect on the iron. A thin external iron cylinder gave the same effect.

In order to determine with accuracy the state of a needle which had been under the influence of discharge, recourse was had to a method of solution of the iron. After several preliminary experiments, dilute HNO₃ at a temperature of boiling water was found to give the most reliable results. In order to test the rate at which the iron was eaten away a piece of pianoforte-wire 6.5cm. long, 0.032in. diameter, was taken and placed inside a solenoid, and subjected to a steady field of 100 C.G.S. units. The needle was then assumed to be magnetized uniformly throughout its section.

Plate XLVIII., Fig. 2.

E H F is a glass vessel, inside another glass vessel, A B C D, which is supported on a tripod of copper. Water is kept boiling in the outer vessel by a burner, K. Inside the inner vessel, but not touching it, is the needle, firmly fixed by the ends in a light frame. This frame is supported clear of the vessels by the stand, S.

The needle is fixed horizontally at a distance from the magnetometer, R, to give a convenient deflection on the scale. As the water is heated up to boiling-point the deflection due to the needle decreases slightly, due to the effect of temperature on the magnetic moment of the needle.

At a stand alongside, the dilute HNO₃ is kept in a beaker of boiling water, and when all is ready the HNO₃ is quickly transferred to the vessel E H F, taking care not to disturb the needle. The moment the HNO₃ reaches the level of the needle in the vessel the time is noted, for at that instant the needle commences to dissolve. Sufficient HNO₃ is poured in to cover the needle half an inch.

As the needle is dissolved the deflection falls, and the deflection at different intervals is carefully noted.

This method of fixing the needle first and then pouring in the acid was unavoidable, as the maximum deflection due to the needle could not otherwise be obtained. By keeping the HNO₃ at 100° C. and rapidly transferring it to the vessel (itself surrounded by boiling water) we insure that the needle is covered by HNO₃ at the same temperature during the whole time of solution. Since the amount of acid was large compared with the size of the needle, the effect of solution of the iron would not materially alter the rate at which the needle was dissolved.

A uniformly-magnetized steel needle was found to dissolve very regularly till it was reduced to an extremely fine filament, which did not break up until the magnetometer deflection had fallen within 3 div. of zero. The following is the result of an experiment on a uniformly-magnetized needle (needle 0.032in. in diameter; steady deflection just before acid is poured in = 222):—

It would be expected that the rate of solution of the metal at any instant would be ::^al to the surface of the metal at that instant—that is, to the radius of the wire. This is very accurately the case in the above experiment. The deflection of the magnetometer at any instant is proportional to the sectional area of the wire—i.e., to the square of the radius. The radius of the wire at any moment is therefore known.

If a curve is constructed whose abscissæ represent time, and ordinates the radii of the wire at different intervals, it will be found to be nearly a straight line, with the exception of an irregularity in the beginning of the curve.

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A needle of steel 0.032 in diameter was then taken, and magnetized by passing the discharge from four leyden-jars in parallel through the solenoid. Spark-length, 1/10in. A correction was made for the fall of deflection when needle was immersed in dilute HNO₃ at 100° C.

Plate XLVIII., Fig. 3.

The following is the table of observed values of time and deflection. The values of time and deflection are reduced for convenience in plotting curves:—

The steady deflection at first was 85. As the iron commenced to be eaten away the deflection rapidly rose, and reached its maximum, 156. It remained stationary for a short interval at its maximum value, and then rapidly decreased down to zero. When the deflection had fallen to zero the needle was removed, its diameter measured, and found to be 0.013in. The depth of magnetic penetration was therefore about 0.0095in.

Now, from the results of experiments on the eating-away of uniformly-magnetized needles, we see that the depth to which the iron is dissolved is proportional to the time. Since in 200sec. the depth dissolved was 0.0095in., the rate of solution = 0.000047in. per second.

If I represent intensity of magnetization of a thin circular shell, distance r from centre of the needle, and M the deflection of the magnetometer at any instant, —

Then ∫ I. 2πr. dr is ::^al to M;

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∴ I . r is ::^al to dM/dr.

If a be radius of needle at first, it has been shown that (a—r) is ::^al to t (the time of action of acid).

Let a—r = k. t,

then—dr = kdt,

and, substituting in equation (1), we get—

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I (a—kt) is ::^al to dM/dt, since dr is ::^al to dt;

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∴ I is ::^al to 1/a – kt . dM/dt

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Now, dM/dt is the value of the tangent of the angle that the tangent at any point of the curve B (see Plate XLVIII., Fig. 3) makes with the axis of abscissæ. dM/dt is ∴ known from curve B. We can consequently determine the curve of variation of I from the surface to the centre, although there are not sufficient data to actually calculate I in absolute measure.

Plate XLVIII., Fig. 4.

The curve in Fig. 4 is an approximate representation of the magnetization from the surface inwards. The ordinates represent I, the intensity of magnetization. The abscissæ represent the distances from the external surface of wire.

It will be observed that the surface-layer is magnetized in an opposite direction to the main part of the magnetized metal.

As we go inwards from the surface the intensity of magnetization rapidly decreases till at the point A there is a portion of the metal which is not magnetized. This will be called the “neutral point.”

On penetrating still further the magnetization changes sign, and rapidly rises to a maximum, which most probably represents an intensity corresponding to the saturation-point of steel. The intensity then remains practically constant till at D it decreases very rapidly down to zero.

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It is evident from the manner in which the magnetization varies inwards that the iron has been under the influence of an oscillatory discharge. The first half-oscillation penetrated to a depth of 1/100in., which is represented by the length O B in the figure. The neutral point A is at a depth of about 1/400in. from the surface. The second half-oscillation has evidently decreased in amplitude considerably, since the depth of penetration is only a quarter that of the first discharge.

In this experiment there is only evidence of two half-oscillations. Several needles were examined which had been magnetized under the influence of various fields and different lengths of spark-gap, but the existence of the return oscillation could not with certainty be detected.

All the needles used gave the same general result—viz., a thin surface-layer magnetized in one direction, and a thicker interior layer magnetized in the opposite direction.

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In one case examined the depth of penetration of the first discharge was considerably less than 1/1000in.

The effect of varying the capacity of the condenser and keeping the self-inductance and the spark-gap constant was also investigated.

There was also a marked difference between the effects produced by discharges in opposite directions on the same saturated needle.

(1.) When the first half-oscillation tended to magnetize the needle in the same direction as it already was magnetized the first half-oscillation had no effect on the needle, it being already saturated. The second half-oscillation tended to demagnetize the needle, the third to magnetize it, and so on.

As an example of the effect of continued sparks in this direction we have the following:—

(2.) When first half-oscillation tended to demagnetize the needle the effect on the reduction of the deflection is much greater; for example:—

The deflection did not fall below 10 div., however many sparks were passed. The iron has then arrived at the steady state. The gradual demagnetization of iron by successive discharges is well illustrated by the above table. The cause of the effect was not at first clear, but further experiment showed that it was due to the very rapid damping of the oscillations. The first oscillation demagnetizes the surface-layers, and probably magnetizes a thin surface-shell to saturation in the opposite direction. The second half-oscillation wipes out some of this opposing magnetism, but to no appreciable depth, since the amplitude of the oscillation is by that time greatly reduced. The third half-oscillation tends to magnetize the iron again, and so on.

When another discharge is passed through the solenoid the first half-oscillation has first of all to demagnetize and magnetize the surface-layers in opposite direction to magnetism of needle. When it has penetrated through the thin surface-shell the magnetic force meets with a layer of iron of

low permeability, since the greater part is already magnetized nearly to saturation in the same direction by the action of the first half-oscillation of the first discharge. It therefore penetrates further, for we know the magnetic force penetrates deeper in a conductor like copper (μ = 1) than in a conductor like iron, where μ may be considerable. More iron is demagnetized and the deflection reduced. This continues as spark after spark is passed, till finally the discharge cannot penetrate any further. This corresponds to the steady state. It was found, by dissolving a needle acted on in this way by a succession of discharges, that the deflection rose steadily as the needle was eaten away, showing that the surface-layer was magnetized in an opposite direction to the central part.

In the experiment above detailed it was found that the discharge had penetrated to about one-quarter of the radius—i.e., a distance of 0.008in. When thin steel needles were experimented on they were often totally demagnetized and magnetized in the opposite direction by successive discharges: e.g., thin steel needle, 0.008in. diameter:—

Soft iron as well as steel needles exhibited the same effect.

The difference between the effect of the first and the second half-oscillation in demagnetizing iron is very marked. The experiments show clearly how rapidly the oscillations decay in amplitude. When we are dealing with capacities of about 1,000 electrostatic units and small inductance in the circuit it seems very probable that there is only one complete oscillation. The others are damped down to such an extent as to be inappreciable. The fact that the deflection due to the needle always falls, whatever the direction of the first oscillation, shows clearly that the discharge is oscillatory. If there was only a unidirectional discharge the needle should only be affected when the discharge is in one direction.

Simple experiments of this nature on ordinary steel needles

show that a leyden-jar discharge is oscillatory, and show also the rapid decay of the amplitude of the vibrations.

A method of deducing the ratio of the second half-oscillation to the first will be given later.

The subject of the decay of amplitude of the vibrations of a leyden-jar discharge is of considerable interest, especially in connection with the resistance of spark-gaps and the radiation of energy into space.

Let L = self-inductance of discharge circuit for rapid alternations;

C = capacity of condenser;

V_o = potential of jar;

R = resistance of connections and spark-gap to the discharge.

Then the current j at any instant is given by

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j = CV₀/(LC)^½ e ^—R/2L.t sin. t/(LC)^½

The exponential factor only includes the case of frictional dissipation of energy, and does not take into account radiation into space. In the experiments at present considered, where the condenser is a leyden-jar, the lines of force of which pass from one coating to the other, there can be a very small amount of dissipation of energy due to radiation (“Recent Researches,” J. J. Thomson, p. 482). We can obtain a fairly accurate estimate of the decay of amplitude of the vibrations from the experiments of eating away of needles by HNO₃, but a more useful estimate may be obtained from considerations of the loss of magnetism of a needle as determined by a magnetometer.

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Two small oppositely-wound solenoids, A and B, were placed in series connecting the coatings of an ordinary leyden-jar discharging through a spark-gap of 1/10in. Two steel needles similar in all respects and magnetized to saturation were taken and placed in the solenoids A and B, so that their north poles faced in the same direction.

Plate XLVIII., Fig 6.

When the leyden-jar was discharged through the spark-gap the first half-oscillation tended to magnetize the needle in A to a greater extent; but, as it was practically saturated, no; effect was produced. The second half-oscillation tended to demagnetize the needle, the third half-oscillation to magnetize it again, and so on.

On the needle in B, however, the first half-oscillation produced its full effect in demagnetizing, the second half tending to magnetize again, and so on.

On needle in A: First, third, fifth, seventh, & c., half-oscillations tend to magnetize needle in original direction; second, fourth, sixth, eighth, & c., tend to demagnetize needle.

On needle in B: Second, fourth, sixth, & c., tend to magnetize needle; first, third, fifth, & c., tend to demagnetize needle.

Now, the strength of field H in a solenoid of length large compared with its radius is given by

H = 4πnc

when n is number of turns per centimetre.

Now, suppose that the solenoids A and B are of the same number of turns per centimetre. Then the needle in B, since it is acted on by the first half-oscillation, will be demagnetized to a greater extent than the needle in A. The fall of the deflection in every case was readily determined by the small mirror magnetometer.

Let the number of turns per centimetre on solenoid B be reduced until there is exactly the same fall of deflection in each needle after one discharge. The maximum magnetizing force on needle in A = 4πnc, where c is maximum current of second half-oscillation; the maximum magnetizing force on needle in B = 4πn′c′, where n′ = number of turns per centimetre, and c′ = maximum current of first half-oscillation.

Now, since the effects on the needles are identical in the two cases, and the period is the same for both, the maximum magnetizing forces in the two solenoids must have been equal.

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∴ 4πnc = 4πn′c′.

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∴ c/c′ = n′/n′

or the maximum currents of the two half-oscillations are to one another inversely as the number of turns per centimetre on solenoids. There is, of course, an assumption here that the effect on the needles is ::^al to maximum magnetizing force when the period is constant. Experimentally it was found that the depth of penetration of magnetic force was ::^al to the maximum current ordinate when period was constant, and the assumption made is a very close approximation to the truth.

The connection between the depths of penetration when the periods varied was more complicated, and not expressed by any simple law.

In experimenting it was found advantageous to pass about twenty discharges instead of one, as the depth of penetration was greatly increased, and also the action of the first effective oscillation was in a great measure differentiated from the effect of the secondary ones.

Many experiments on the relation between the amplitudes

of the first and second half-oscillations were made under varying conditions. A few of these are incorporated in a “Note on the Resistance of Spark-gaps,” placed at the end of this paper.

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The general result obtained was that for a spark-gap of 1/10in., and inductance of about 4,000 C.G.S. units in circuit, the amplitude of the second half-oscillation was less than half that of the first.

As an example of a balance of the kind explained, when 2.15 turns per centimetre were on the one solenoid and 1.06 turns per centimetre on the other the effect on the needles was exactly equal.

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∴amplitude of second half-oscillation/amplitude of first half-oscillation} = 1.06/2.15 = 0.493,

or nearly one-half.

If this rate of decay holds for succeeding oscillations: the return oscillation has only one-quarter of maximum value of first oscillation.

Plate XLVIII., Fig. 7.

The curve, in Fig. 7 is a rough representation of the rapid decay of the oscillations. If the rate of decay continues for several oscillations the current will have a very small fraction of its original maximum value. It has been shown how a magnetized steel needle placed in a small solenoid may be used as a detector of an oscillatory discharge, and also as a means of determining the rate of decay of the oscillation.

A series of different experiments was then undertaken to show that iron possesses magnetic properties under the influence of all kinds of discharges.

The needle was placed in a solenoid connecting the extenial coatings of leyden-jars A and B, arranged as in Lodge's experiments on the “alternate path.”

Plate XLVIII., Fig. 8.

A and B are two leyden-jars connected in series through the solenoid D. When a spark occurs at C there is an impulsive rush of electricity through the solenoid D. The steel or soft-iron wire placed in the solenoid exhibited the same effect as when the discharge occurs in the ordinary way. The wire was always demagnetized, and the loss of magnetism was almost exactly the same as when the jars are connected in series in the ordinary way and discharged. There was the same rate of decay of amplitude also, and, as far as regards the effect on magnetized needles, the impulsive discharge is of the same nature as the ordinary discharge.

(2.) The needle was next placed in a small solenoid in series with one of the long wires reaching from the coatings of the

solenoid is to reduce the amplitude of the second half-oscillation considerably, for when the iron is removed and discharges passed the deflection falls from 200 to 150, and when the iron is in the solenoid from 200 to 162.

We must now consider to what this effect is due. If the iron increased the inductance of the circuit the effect would be to increase the amplitude of the second half-oscillation rather than decrease it. The iron cannot sensibly alter the inductance of the circuit, for we observe that the effect of the first half-oscillation is diminished very slightly—in this particular case from 200 to 100 to 200 to 103.

The result must therefore be due to an absorption of energy by the iron core, and a consequent increase of actual resistance in the circuit. The absorption of energy represents an addition of real resistance to the circuit, and increases the rate of dissipation of energy in the circuit.

The energy absorbed by the conductor may then be readily compared with the energy absorbed when a resistance of very small inductance is placed in the circuit—e.g., a carbon pencil, or a tube containing an electrolyte.

The final deflection when the cylinder was in the solenoid was carefully observed. The cylinder was removed, and a short length of carbon rod of high resistance introduced into the circuit until the added resistance caused the final deflection to be the same as when the metal cylinder was in the solenoid.

Since the damping is identical in the two cases, the added resistance must absorb the same amount of energy as the metal core. The absorption of energy in the metal core therefore increases the impedance of the circuit, and this increase of impedance may be expressed in ohms.

The resistance of the carbon rod or electrolyte was determined for steady currents, and, since the conductivity is small, it will be found, by substitution in the equations given by Lord Rayleigh, that its resistance is practically the same for steady currents as for a frequency of 2,000,000 per second, which is very approximately the frequency of the discharge.

Proceeding in this way, the absorption of energy by various conductors was compared.

Table of Absorption of Energy by Various Conductors. (The absorption of energy is proportional to the increase of impedance of the circuit.)

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Professor J. J. Thomson (“Recent Researches,” pp. 321, 322) shows that the increase of impedance of the primary circuit due to absorption of energy by an iron cylinder of length l and radius a

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= 4π²lN² (pμσ/2π)^½a

where p = 2πn; n being the number of oscillations per second;

N = number of turns per centimetre cf solenoid;

μ = permeability of iron;

σ = specific resistance of iron.

Now, we have shown that a soft-iron cylinder increases the impedance of the circuit by 3.9 ohms.

From this equation we can deduce a rough approximation of the value of μ for iron in fields of high frequency.

The number of oscillations per second was 2,000,000, calculated from data of discharge circuit.

σ is approximate for soft iron, 10⁴;

l = 14cm.;

a = 0.95cm.;

N = 2, nearly.

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∴ 3.9×10⁹ = 4π²× 14.(2)² (2π.2.10⁶.10⁴μ/2π)^½

An approximate solution of this is μ = 172, which shows that iron has considerable permeability even under the influence of these very transient fields.

It is interesting to observe that it is not necessarily the best conductors that absorb the most energy in these fields: in fact, the very reverse is the case. A copper cylinder does not absorb more than one-fortieth of the energy that an

On the addition of a carbon resistance of 8.5 ohms to the discharge circuit, the fall of the deflection was—(1) From 200 to 103; (2) from 200 to 176½.

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Since the fall of deflection is the same in the two cases, resistance of iron wire = 8.5 ohms + resistance of the copper, wire for that particular period. Now, from Lord Rayleigh's equations, the resistance of copper wire in rapidly alternating fields is given by R′ = √½p l R, where l = length of wire, and R is resistance of wire for steady currents. From knowledge of the period this may readily be calculated. The resistance of the iron wire is therefore known.

In order to determine the period very accurately, a plate condenser was used with ebonite as the dielectric. The S.I.G. of ebonite had been determined previously and found to be 2.2. The capacity of the condenser was found from calculation of the size of the plates to be 460 electrostatic units.

From knowledge of the data of the discharge circuit the self-inductance can be calculated. (See Lodge's “Experiments on Discharge of Leyden-jars,” Proc. Roy. Soc., June 4, 1891, p. 33.)

The self-inductance L = 4278;

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frequency n = 2π √LC

= 3.5 × 10⁶;

and p = 2μn = 2.1 × 10⁷.

The effect of the increase of diameter of wires on the self-inductance of the circuits is small, so that in all cases the number of oscillations per second will be taken as 3,500,000. When the resistances of iron wires of different sections were being determined a copper wire of as near as possible the diameter of the iron wire under consideration was placed in the circuit. In the case of an iron wire 0.22in. in diameter, a lead pipe took the place of the copper conductor.

After the calculated resistance of the copper wires for a frequency of 3,500,000 had been added to the carbon resistance placed in the circuit, the following is the table of resistances observed:—

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It will be observed that for the soft-iron wire 0.222in. in diameter the resistance of the wire is 125 times its resistance for steady currents.

The wire 0.145in. in diameter is seventy times its ordinary resistance, and wire 0.039in, about eight times.

The general result of this investigation supports the theory of increase of resistance of conductors as the rapidity of the oscillations is increased.

The experiments here recorded receive additional confirmation from later investigations on the circular magnetization of iron.

It will be observed that the wire 0.011in. in diameter does not double its ordinary resistance for a frequency of 3,500,000, and the resistances increase more rapidly for increase of diameter than ordinary theory would lead-us to expect.

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Lord Rayleigh has shown that the resistance of a wire of permeability μ for rapidly-alternating fields is √½ μPlR, where R = resistance for steady currents.

Now, for wire of diameter 0.222in;

and substituting p = 2.1 × 10⁷,

l = 377,

R = 0.032 ohm,

we get an equation for μ and it will be found that in this case μ = 121; and, if we thus determine μ for the different soft-iron wires, we get the following table:—

It will be observed that the apparent permeability of the wire increases proportionately to the radius. Where the radius of wire is increased twenty times, permeability is increased twenty times, and so on.

I am not aware that anything definite on this subject has been hitherto done; but the following approximate calculation possibly gives the true explanation:—

Consider a condenser charged with a quantity Q0 of electricity.

The maximum current of discharge J = pQ0, assuming no decrease in amplitude.

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Now, if this current be confined to a surface-skin of the conductor, the magnetic force, at a distance r from the centre, is given by H = 2J/r.

Now, this value of H at any point only depends on the current flowing external to that point; and, since the current is mainly confined to the surface, we may take r = radius of wire.

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H = 2pQ₀/r = 2/r PCV₀, where V₀ is potential between knobs,

and C is capacity of condenser.

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As the spark-gap was 1/10in. in length, the difference of potential was as near as possible 10,000 volts. Substituting these values, it will be found that H = 18.8/r nearly.

For the first wire r = 0.011in. = 0.027cm.

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∴ H = 18.8/0.013 = 1,400 approximately;

and, taking B = 12,000, we get a value of

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μ = B/H = 9 approximately.

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The observed value is about 6; but the discrepancy between the two results is to be expected, and is due to the fact that the resistance of the iron is measured after a succession of discharges in the same direction, when, on account of the greater amplitude of the first half-oscillation, the inner part of the wire is practically saturated, and does not offer any considerable permeability when once the current has penetrated through the external skin, magnetized in the opposite direction by the second half-oscillation. The equations H = 2J/r and μ = B/H = Br/2J show that we should expect the permeability of the iron to vary as the radius of the wire, within, of course, the maximum limit of permeability of iron—i.e., about 3,000. The table given previously shows how closely the law is fulfilled in practice.

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Now, J = pQ₀ = 1/√LC CV₀, and V₀ varies as the spark length d.

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∴ J ∝ √C/√L . d,

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and μ= Br/2J, and when the iron is saturated B may be takenas constant.

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∴ μ ∝ r√L/d√C.

Therefore increase of radius increases the permeability of iron in these fields, and the shorter the spark-gap the higher the permeability, and therefore the resistance.

The maximum currents flowing in the two branches are proportional to the quantities under the roots, and it will be observed that the distribution of current for high frequencies depends more on the self-inductance than on the resistance of the circuit.

The two circuits were wound exactly equal to one another. Bach consisted of a solenoid of 34 turns, 22cm. long, 22cm. in diameter. The wire was indiarubber-covered copper wire 0.039in. in diameter.

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When a metal core is introduced into the solenoid and a discharge passed there are vigorous induced currents in the cylinder. When it is considered that a current of sometimes 100 amperes is reversed 10,000,000 times per second, the induced currents must be large. These induced currents, on account of the very short time which they last, are confined to a thin skin of the cylinder. But these induced currents tend to diminish the effective inductance of the circuit. The amount of energy – absorbed in the cylinder depends on the difference of phase between the direct and induced currents. The impedance of the circuit is given by √R² + p²L, and it is of interest to know whether this is increased or decreased by the introduction of a metal core.

The effect of iron, whether solid or finely divided, is therefore to increase the impedance of the circuit.

This is the general result obtained for a frequency of about

The same condenser and discharging circuit were used for all the specimens tested, and it is of interest to observe the depth of penetration in wards, assuming the residual deflection is given by the mass of iron not circularly magneticed—i.e., not affected by the current in the surface-skin of the conductor.

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Experiments of this kind show to what a small depth the current penetrates into the wire. Very large momentary currents are conveyed through a thin surf ace-skin of the conductor, and the intensity of the current diminishes rapidly inwards.

The loss of deflection due to the “circular magnetization” of a wire by the passage of a longitudinal current is a very convenient method of estimating the quantities of electricity that flow in the branches of multiple circuits.

The currents in this case are all of the same frequency, and, experimentally, it was found that the “depth of penetration” was proportional to the maximum current.

By taking short steel needles magnetized to saturation and placing them in series with circuits in multiple arc, the division of the current among the conductors admits of accurate determination. By varying the diameter of the needles, currents of the same period but widely different amplitudes may be compared.

J. J. Thomson has suggested a specially-prepared vacuum-tube placed in a solenoid as a convenient galvanometer for discharges of this kind. The comparison between the currents in the various branches is made by observations on the brilliancy of the discharge in the bulb. The effect of a longi-

For the ordinary leyden-jar most of the energy is wasted in heat in the spark-gap, and the number of complete oscillations that occur depends almost entirely on the length of spark-gap. Indirect evidence of the rapid damping-down of vibrations is afforded by experiments on resonators. If the discharge circuits of two equal condensers be exactly equal and facing one another, a few feet apart, when one jar is discharged, oscillations are set up in the neighbouring circuit, and since the periods of the two systems are the same the well-timed, impulses due to the vibrator will cause sparking in the resonator.

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The distance to which this sparking may be detected depends almost entirely on the length of the spark-gap in the circuit of the vibrator. When the spark-gap is long, although the first oscillation is very vigorous no sparks can be detected in the resonator more than a few feet away. As the spark-gap is shortened the oscillations of the vibrator diminish in amplitude, but are more persistent on account of the lower resistance in the spark-gap, and, as the resonator responds more readily to a succession of small impulses than to one vigorous impulse, sparking may be detected to a much greater distance. For spark-gaps greater than 1/10in. in length an ordinary discharge is damped down extremely rapidly, and the amplitude of the second swing is generally less than a fifth of the first.

When a discharge occurs in currents of known inductance and capacity the theoretical law of decay is known. The current J at any instant t is given by

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J = CV₀/(LC)^{½ e-R/2L.t} & sin. t/(LC)^½

where L = inductance of circuit for rapid oscillation,

R = resistance of leads and spark-gap,

C = capacity of jar,

V₀ = potential of coatings.

The maximum current of the first half-oscillation is given by.

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J₁ = CV₀/(LC)^{½e −R/2L . 3T/4}

where T is period of a complete oscillation.

The maximum current of the second half-oscillation is given by.

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J₂ = CV₀/(LC)^½e ^−R/2L.3T/4

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∴ log. ^J₁ = R/2L.T/2. (A.)

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The ratio J₁/J₂ can be obtained by the method of experiment previously explained; and, since T and L are known from the data of the condenser and the discharge circuit, R is known. Now, R is made up of the resistance of the leads as well as the spark-gap. The resistance of the leads can be deduced from Rayleigh's formula, and therefore the resistance of the spark-gap between the first and second half-oscillations is known.

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An experimental method of calculation was also used as a means of checking the results obtained from above equation. After the ratio J₁/J₂ had been determined by varying the number of turns in a solenoid, a known carbon resistance, r, was introduced into the circuit, and the ratio, J₃/J₄, of the first two halfoscillations determined as before.

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∴ log. J₃/J₄ = (R + r)/2L. T/2. (B)

Dividing equation (B) by (A), we get—

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R + r/R = log.^J₃/J₄/log.J₁/J₂

Therefore R is known at once.

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Proceeding in this way, the resistances of spark-gaps when the self-inductance and spark-length were constant and the capacity varied were determined. The spark-gap was 1/10in. in length, and between knobs 1cm. in radius.

A Voss machine was used to charge up the jars. It will be seen that the resistance of the spark-gap diminishes rapidly as the capacity of the condenser is increased—i.e., as the quantity of electricity that passes through the spark-gap is increased.

The effect of keeping the capacity and inductance constant and varying the spark-length was then proceeded with.

These observations show that the spark-gap increases in resistance rapidly as the length of spark is increased. Short spark-gaps have low resistances, and long spark-gaps high resistances.

In all these experiments a Voss machine was used to charge up the jars. If the Voss is replaced by a Rumkhorff coil, under certain conditions it is probable that the resistance is much lower. If a Hertz dumb-bell vibrator is excited by a Voss no action in a resonator can be detected. When a Rumkhorff coil is used oscillations are set up in neighbouring circuits, but only when a certain kind of spark is given by the coil. This spark was called by Hertz the “active” spark, and it is probable that the resistance of the spark-gap is much less with the active spark than with the ordinary discharge. Usually with a spark-gap of about ⅔cm. the vibrations are damped down very rapidly, and the second half-oscillation has not half the amplitude of the first.

places, just as we see that there are very great differences now in climate between places in the same latitudes but under different conditions as to heights above the sea, moisture, and the vicinity of cold or warm ocean-currents, & c. With these explanations I may confidently assert that it is a fact, supported by such a mass of geological evidence as to put it beyond the possibility of doubt, that there was a time in this world's history—comparatively recent from a geological point of view—when, climatic conditions somewhat resembling those now existing in Greenland and other arctic and antarctic regions extended very much farther southern the Northern Hemisphere, and also very much farther north in the Southern Hemisphere, than at present. It is, perhaps, not yet quite certain that this glacial condition in the Southern Hemisphere was synchronous with the glacial condition in the Northern Hemisphere, but I believe that the geological evidence is in favour of this conclusion. This remarkable fact in the history of our globe has given rise to much speculation, inquiry, and discussion. The questions to be solved were three: 1. When did this ice age terminate? 2. How long had it lasted? 3. What was the cause which produced it, and why did this cause cease to act? In no part of the world has the ice age left its record so completely and on so grand a scale as in North America. The record has there been studied most carefully and exhaustively; and fortunately there are in that country several cases in which rivers, which, from the circumstances of the case, could not have been flowing during the ice age, have cut back new channels at waterfalls, since the disappearance of the ice, for distances which, when compared with the rate at which the edges of the waterfalls have retrograded during recent times, give a fair measure of the time during which these rivers have acted, and therefore of the date when glacial conditions ceased there. The Niagara Falls is the best known of these instances; but falls on the Missouri at St. Anthony and on other rivers have given similar evidence; and the general result arrived, at is that the glacial condition, both in North America and in Europe, terminated from 10,000 to 8,000, or even less, years ago. The duration of the glacial condition has been estimated approximately by American geologists at from 12,000 to 24,000 years, and by Professor Prestwich at from 15,000 to 25,000 years. These latter are wide margins; but the data, chiefly the masses of moraine left by the retreating ice, and the distances travelled by erratic boulders compared with known rates of glacier motions, are so imperfect that probably no nearer approximation can be made geologically. The theory of two separate ice ages, in succession has been upheld by some; but it is now discredited in America, the appearances which seemed to indicate these

successive waves of cold-having been more carefully interpreted by comparison with existing glaciers, and having been explained by the alternate advances and retirements of glacier faces according as the seasons during the Glacial period were more or less favourable to the deposition of snow or to its melting away.

In North America, the glacial condition extended on the east coast as far south as New York, in lat, 41°; it swept as far south as lat. 38° in the valley of the Mississippi, whence the boundary stretched north-west to about lat. 46° 30′ on the west coast, with great southward extensions on the mountainranges of the Rockies, the Sierra Madre, and the Sierra. Nevada and Cascade Ranges, to lat. 42°, 38°, and 36° N.

In Europe, ice and snow overwhelmed the whole of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England as far south as the valley of the Thames in lat. 51° 30′, stretched across to Holland and North Germany, trended south to the Carpathian. Mountains in lat. 48° N., stretched across Russia to the valley of the Volga in an irregular line, a little north of the 50th parallel of north latitude, and thence struck northwards to the Ural Mountains in lat. 63°, and so back to the Arctic Ocean. The Alpine glaciers formed an outlying glacial sea overwhelming Switzerland and North Italy, and invading France by the valley of the Rhone to lat. 46°.

Two remarkable facts are evidenced by these boundaries of the glaciated regions in America and Europe. First, we notice that the Gulf Stream must have had the same sort of influence during the glacial age that it has now; for the glacial conditions on the east coast of North America extended as far south as lat. 41°, while on the west coast of Europe they did not reach farther than lat. 51° 30′. It is probable that this was the limit of the northward flow of the Gulf Stream in the ice age, at least in winter, when the North Sea must have been blocked with ice, and the Arctic Ocean must have formed an icy barrier between Greenland, Iceland, and the British. Isles.

Secondly, we notice how necessary moisture is for the formation of glaciers, as there is no geological evidence of any glacial action in north central Asia; it is confined to the parts of Europe subjected to the moist winds from the Atlantic and the northern seas. In North America the great lake-system was evidently much extended during the ice age, and thus the needed moisture was afforded in the central parts of North. America where glacial conditions prevailed.

In Siberia and Kamschatka and north west Alaska the climate is very dry, and, although the cold is intense, the effect produced is not the formation of glaciers, but what is known as tundra, where the soil is perpetually frozen for hundreds of

feet in depth, a few feet of the surface being thawed in summer and supporting a peculiar vegetation. In such countries the ice age has naturally left no record.

In the Southern Hemisphere the only existing land-surfaces which probably could have been affected by an ice age are Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia at the south extremity of South America, New Zealand and Tasmania, and in some slight degree South Australia. Of the former countries we have no sufficient exploration to give complete geological data on which to reason as to the extent of glaciation they may have undergone in the past; but Darwin found erratic boulders in lat. 41° to 43° on Chiloe Island, evidently brought by glaciers from the Cordilleras, and on the east coast he found similar boulders in Santa Cruz valley, lat. 50°, but he did not examine the country farther north. At present we have the remarkable fact that the mountains on the west coast of South America, as far north as the Gulf of Penas, lat. 46° 52′, send large glaciers down to the sea-coast, where icebergs are formed, and this although the mountains there do not exceed 6,000ft. in height. The degree of cold experienced so far north on this coast is, however, explained by the existence of a cold antarctic current, which, starting apparently to the east of the projecting antarctic land, called South Victoria, circles round to the north and east until it strikes the west coast of Patagonia in lat. 48°, where it divides, part going up the coast northwards until it merges in the west-flowing equatorial current, part flowing south and sweeping round Cape Horn, and continuing onwards in a north-easterly direction into the South Atlantic. This cold antarctic current performs for the south-west of South America a similar but opposite office to that which the warm Gulf Stream performs for the north-west of Europe, and, just as the Gulf Stream gives north-western Europe an abnormally high temperature, so this antarctic cold stream gives an abnormally low temperature to the south-western coast of South America. The south-east coast has a much more genial climate. And here I would protest against the statement so often made that the Southern Hemisphere is colder than the Northern Hemisphere. Darwin probably gave rise to the idea by comparing south-west South America with north-western Europe, which is warmed by the Gulf Stream. North-eastern North America almost exactly corresponds in. climate with south-western South America. Newfoundland, in the same north latitude as Penas has south latitude, has a very similar climate, being also chilled by an arctic current, although. it has no high mountains as nurseries for glaciers. Comparison is, however, very difficult on account of the very different distribution of land and water in the two hemispheres. If we take the corresponding north and south latitudes of 42°

we find in the best physical atlas that the mean temperature in the depth of winter in the Northern Hemisphere varies in different places between—4° and +41°, while in the Southern Hemisphere it is about +45°. In the height of summer in the Northern Hemisphere in this latitude the temperature varies in different places between 54° and 77°, while in the Southern Hemisphere it varies very little from 59°; or, if we take the mean for the year, in the same latitude north it is 52°, and south it is 55°. As we might expect, in the Northern Hemisphere, with its great continents, the range of temperature is very great; while in the Southern Hemisphere, with but little land and vast stretches of ocean, the temperature is more equable, but at the same time it is somewhat higher on the average, and this notwithstanding the present position of the equinoctial line in the earth's orbit, which causes the summer to be shorter and the winter longer in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern by a few days.

The effect of cold and warm ocean-currents is well exemplified in the Northern Hemisphere by the line indicating the extreme north limit where cereals will ripen. On the east coast of North America, chilled by the arctic current, the limit is lat. 48° N.; while in north-west Europe, warmed by the Gulf Stream, the limit extends to the North. Cape in lat. 72° N. On the west coast of North America, which is not chilled by an arctic current as the current flows into Behring Straits, the limit of cereals is about 58° 30′. We have no land in similar positions in the Southern Hemisphere to compare with these except in New Zealand; Stewart Island, lat. 47° S.; and Tierra del Fuego, lat. 53° S.

As regards the geological record of glacial action on an extended scale in New Zealand in geologically recent times, it is plain and abundant in the Provinces of Otago and Canterbury, and, as I am informed by Mr. McKay, as far north as the Grey River Valley on the West Coast in about lat. 42° 30′. As to the limits of glacial action on the east coast of the Middle Island, and on the question of any means we may have of judging either the duration or the date of the termination of this epoch in New Zealand, I will say nothing; but I hope we may have some valuable information on these points from Sir James Hector, Mr. McKay, and others who are experts in the geology of New Zealand.

It has occurred to me, however, as being highly probable that the peculiar surface-carving of the clay hills around Wellington may be traced to the climatic conditions of the Glacial period, when there must have been very severe winter frosts here, with heavy snowfall, and very hot summers, producing rapid thawing and violent torrents of water stream-

ing down the hillsides, and cutting out the very prominent gullies which are so characteristic of the view which we see every day as we look across the harbour, or observe the hills enclosing Wellington. That the frame work of this rugged country was due to other and preceding causes there can be no doubt; but that the surface-cutting must have been the result of the erosive action of water in a much more violent form than is experienced in our existing climate seems equally certain, and I think that, although the climate in this latitude was not so severe as to allow of the formation of glaciers at the time when they were so marked a feature in the southern parts of the Middle Island, yet the winters must have been so severe as to insure a heavy snowfall throughout the long ages of the Glacial period, which has left its mark in this way by the water erosion of melting snow and heavy rains, although not by the grinding action of the consolidated snow in glaciers.

In Tasmania, evidences of extensive glaciers in former times are now found in about lat. 42° S., or nearly the same latitude as the northern limit in New Zealand. A very interesting paper on the subject, read before the Royal Society of Victoria by Mr. E. J. Dunn last year, has been kindly put into my hands by Sir James Hector. Mr. Dunn describes the district he visited near Zeehan, in the western highlands of Tasmania, which do not exceed in altitude from 1,800ft. to 3,800ft., and where the records of glaciers are left in moraines, erratic blocks, and the characteristic planing, scoring, and polishing of rocks. He observes that in the higher mountains farther south and east he is confifident that still more extensive records of the last ice age will be found. He says that the appearances indicate a comparatively recent date for the glaciers which must have formerly existed in the neighbourhood which he visited.

In a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society in March, 1893, by Mr. H. O. Forbes, which has also been shown to me by Sir James Hector, Mr. Forbes refers to evidences of glaciation in South Africa as far north as lat. 27° and 30° S. I should imagine that these evidences are either on very high mountains, or that they belong to an earlier geological date than those in other parts of the Southern Hemisphere, which are not found farther north than lat. 36° S. He also refers to evidences of glacier-action in South Australia in lat. 36° S. I presume that he alludes to the ice records in St. Vincent's Gulf, near Adelaide.

Mr. R. M. Johnston, F.L.S., in a very exhaustive paper read in June last before the Royal Society of Tasmania and also furnished to me by Sir James Hector, explains these markings and erratic blocks by the stranding of icebergs on the

shore during a period of refrigeration, and by the subsequent raising of the shore to its present height of 40ft. above sealevel. This seems to be a reasonable explanation of the record of ice-action on a low shore in lat. 36° S. In this paper Mr. Johnston gives a mass of very interesting and valuable information relative to glacier-action amongst the Australian Alps in lat. 36° 30′ S. Mount Kosciusko and its neighbours, over 7,000ft. high, show evidences of former glaciers, but at high levels only. This corresponds with similar evidence in Colorado and New Mexico, in North America, where the mountains are 14,000ft. high, and formerly had extensive glaciers, reaching to about the 5,000ft. level.

In Tasmania he gives additional facts corresponding with those mentioned in Mr. Dunn's paper, showing that in recent geological times there were extensive glaciers in the western highlands of Tasmania, where the mountains are from 4,000ft, to 5,000ft. high; but there is no evidence that they reached the sea, although they have left their marks in the river-beds and on the low-lying land.

Mr. Johnston is disposed to assign a more remote antiquity to these indications than is Mr. Dunn, but Mr. Johnston is evidently influenced by the astronomical theory of Dr. Groil, and it does not appear to me that he brings any evidence to support this view, which would refer the indications of glacieraction in Australia and Tasmania, where no glaciers now exist, to 80,000 or 100,000 years ago, instead of 8,000 or 10,000 years ago as in the Northern Hemisphere.

If we inquire what were the circumstances of those parts of the earth which were affected by it during the ice age, we find these circumstances must have been very various. The most common evidences of ice-action are moraines, or the collection of boulders and stony material confusedly piled together, and often scratched and polished; erratic blocks far removed from their parent rocks; grooyings, planings, and roundings-off and polishing of rocks in situ; in some places deep beds of tough clay mixed with scratched and rubbed stones, known as “till,” in others “kettleholes” or deep hollows in the ground; long lines of deposited stones and other material, like the beds of streams, only raised in relief above the surrounding surface; and many such strange, evidences of a mighty power at work, quite different from the ordinary work done by rains, and streams, and rivers, and seas, or by volcanic agency. In many instances the work has evidently been done by glaciers, as it is precisely similar to that now being carried on by existing glaciers; but where such evidences are found at a great distance from mountains—on the plains of America, Canada, central Europe, and in England—we are constrained to seek for some agency different

from ordinary glacier-action. Some geologists, who have studied the existing conditions in Greenland, believe that during the ice age a great covering of snow and ice, thousands of feet in thickness, overwhelmed wide districts in the regions, where these evidences exist, and that by its agency nearly all these effects were produced in America as it accumulated and advanced, or diminished and retired. The geologists of the United States Geological Survey hold this view, and it is most ably set forth in Dr. Wright's most interesting and comprehensive book.

The Canadian geologists, with Sir William Dawson at their head, consider that there was a great submergence of the low land in the glaciated regions of North America and Canada during the ice age, and that a great part of the deposits were made by icebergs and shore-ice during this condition of things.

It seems probable that, as in most such controversies, and as, indeed, Sir William Dawson holds, both sides are partly right, and that submergence of the land and the inroad of cold currents carrying icebergs and depositing their burdens of stones and earth on the sea-bottoms, and compressing and ploughing the shores as they stranded, will account for many of the effects noticed; but they certainly will not account for all of them, and in many large districts great thicknesses of snow and ice, carrying boulders and stones and earth and other things, must have covered the hills and valleys, in the same way as Greenland is covered now, creeping outwards from the highest snow-covered land to immense distances.,

In many places there is no evidence of any extensive glaciation of low lands, but only of the existence of glaciers of greater or less extent on mountain-ranges, and extending down the valleys from them, where no such glaciers now exist. Such seems to have been the case in Tasmania, and, I believe, in New Zealand; but, whatever the special results in each locality, they all alike indicate a more arctic climate where they occurred than now exists there.

The third question still demands an answer, What was the cause which produced the last ice age, and why did it cease to act?

Some geologists, and eminently Sir William Dawson, the Canadian professor, have suggested that an efficient cause may be found in those elevations and depressions of land which are well-known geological facts, and which doubtless may have had considerable climatic influence.

Sir William Dawson thinks that there is reason to suppose that during the last ice age in North America the Isthmus of Panama was submerged, and thus the Gulf Stream was not thrown northwards as at present; and also that a consider-

able part of North-America was submerged; and he conceives that the greater extent of sea and the absence of the warming influence of the Gulf Stream would account for the change of climate. We have seen, however, that there is the strongest ground for believing that the warm Gulf Stream exercised the same influence on the north-western shores of Europe in the ice age as it does now; and the conditions of the Southern Hemisphere are at the present time even more favourable for the production of an ice age than those he conceives to have existed in North America during the Glacial period in regard to the distribution of land and water, yet we certainly have no approach to an ice age in the Southern Hemisphere now. We may therefore conclude, I think, that no redistribution of land, and water can have been the main factor in the phenomenon.

The question, then, naturally arises, Can there have been any astronomical causes which would suffice to explain the occurrence of an ice age terminating from 7,000 to 10,000 years ago after having endured for from 12,000 to 25,000 years? Dr. Croll has attempted to give an astronomical reason, and Sir Robert Ball has lately perfected his suggestion.

I will not attempt to explain the astronomical theory as put forward by Sir Robert Ball in his most charming and interesting little book, “The Cause of an Ice Age,” but merely give his conclusions, which are as follow: He shows, first, that, with, the present obliquity, or approximately the same, “of the total amount of heat received from the sun on a hemisphere of the earth in the course of a year, 63 per cent, is received during the summer and 37 per cent, is received during the winter.” He then goes on to show that the ellipticity of the earth's orbit round the sun varies within certain limits by disturbances caused by the other planets, and that at certain extremely long intervals this ellipticity attains its maximum. This maximum endures for a very long period, and then gradually diminishes to its minimum again. He also shows that, owing to the precession of the equinoxes, combined with a very slow motion of the major axis of the earth's orbit in an opposite direction, the line of equinoxes travels all round the ellipse in about 21,000 years. This period appears to be incorrect, and should be about 32,000 years, but in any case it is a short period compared with that occupied by the change in the ellipticity of the orbit, so that the line, of equinoxes may travel round several times during a period of high eccentricity. He then explains that when “during this period of high eccentricity of the orbit the line of equinoxes cuts the major axis at right angles, one hemisphere will have a very long summer (199 days) and a very short winter (166 days), while the other hemisphere will have a very short summer (166 days) and a very long winter

(199 days); yet in both cases (supposing the obliquity to remain constant) the same inequality will exist in the total amounts of heat received during summer and winter in both hemispheres—i.e., 63 parts in summer and 37 parts in winter. Hence the hemisphere which was enjoying a long summer would have its heat tempered by the length of time over which it was distributed, and its short winter would have a fair amount of heat each day; but the other hemisphere would have only the same amount of heat distributed over all the days in its long winter, while its short summer would be intensely hot. Such conditions, he considers, and shows mathematically, would be very different from those now experienced on earth, and might well produce long periods of genial or arctic climate on one hemisphere and then on the other. The alternations in climate between one hemisphere arid the other would, he states, each have a period of 10,500 years from commencement to end, a complete cycle lasting 21,000 years, and these cycles would probably be recurrent two or three times or more during each period of extreme eccentricity.

Dr. Croll gives the dates of these periods. The latest culminated 200,000 years ago, and ended 80,000 years ago; another culminated 750,000, another 850,000, another 250,000 years ago; and the next will occur 500,000 years hence.

Now, if we accept the geological inferences from the known facts of the last ice age in the Northern Hemisphere,—and they are so convincing that we cannot refuse our assent,—it is clear that the cause of that ice age was not the eccentricity of the earth's orbit combined with a favourable position of the line of equinoxes, whatever effect may have been produced by such a conjunction in past ages.

I will now pass on to put before you the view of Major-General Drayson, an artillery officer who has devoted the greater part of his life to the study of astronomy, and who has made a discovery which, although it has not yet met with universal recognition, is steadily making its way into the position of a fundamental astronomical fact. The discovery is this: that our earth is not only revolving daily on an imaginary axis at present inclined 23° 27′ 22–3″ to the plane of the ecliptic, or its orbit round the sun; but that it is also slowly revolving in nearly the opposite direction on another imaginary axis, the pole of which is 6° from that of the ecliptic, 29° 25′ 47″ from the pole of daily rotation, and has a right ascension of 270°, or 18 hours (Plate XLV., fig. 3). The discovery of this second rotation of the earth is fraught with most important consequences. It explains most simply the cause of the precession of the equinoxes and the varying obliquity of the ecliptic, and defines the rate of precession and the amount of the obliquity

at any date; it fixes the apparent motion of the north pole of the axis of daily rotation with accuracy, and also the corresponding motion of the south pole; it explains and enables us to calculate easily and certainly the true apparent position of every star hundreds of years ago and hundreds of years hence; and it shows us that, under the present conditions of the globe, the period required for a complete second rotation is 31,686 years (Plate XLV., fig. 4), and that euring this period the obliquity of the axis of daily rotation to the axis of the plane of the ecliptic would have attained a maximum of 35° 25′ 47″ in the year 13,544 B.C., The obliquity would have been about 30° in the year 21,460 B.C., and would have returned to 30° again in 5,624 B.C. Between those dates—that is, for 15,866 years—glacial conditions, more or less accentuated, would have prevailed in both hemispheres: that is, the arctic and antarctic circles would have been brought from 12° to 6° nearer to the equator than at present, the tropical zone having been, also proportionately widened, and thus much greater extremes of temperature would have been experienced, especially in what are now temperate zones. What the precise results of this great increase in the obliquity of the ecliptic would be no one probably would have been able to predict; but that such a great change in that element of the earth's position, with reference to its orbit round the sun, on which our climatic conditions mainly depend, would accomplish immense alterations in existing conditions no one can doubt. An incident recounted in General Drayson's book is so suggestive N that it is worth reproducing here. He says, “Some years ago, when standing on the banks of a lake in Nova Scotia (a locality well suited to the study of the evidence of the Glacial period), I observed that the hard rocky shore was cut and marked by the glaciers and icebergs of the boulder period. In various inland localities were enormous boulders, which had been carried many miles from the parent rocks, and deposited in what was now a vast forest. My only companion was Paul, a Micmac Indian. Pointing to the boulders and the marks on the rocks I said, ‘Paul, how do you account for all this?’ Paul, without any hesitation, replied, ‘Long time ago more winter in winter, more summer in summer. More winter make more snow, more icebergs; more summer melt snow quicker, float-icebergs more than now. That what I think.’” I have no doubt that the Indian, a careful observer of the natural effects and their causes in the climatic conditions in which he lived, was right in his conclusion. There was more winter, but there was also more summer, and, as Professor Tyndall states, heat is as necessary as cold to produce glaciers and to develope their full effects. Sir Robert Ball has calculated that, with the present obliquity of the ecliptic, each hemisphere of our globes, jreceives

during summer 62.7 per cent, and in winter 37.3 per cent, of the total heat given to that hemisphere by the sun in the year. Calculating by the same method, I find that when the obliquity is 35° the proportions are 66.5 (or two-thirds) in summer, and 33.5 (or one-third) in winter. Such an inequality would produce an exceedingly severe climate.

The period of a complete second rotation of the earth being approximately 32,000 years, and the date of the maximum obliquity of the earth's axis of daily rotation to the plane of the ecliptic being approximately 14,000 years B.C., the termination of abnormal climatic conditions occurred about 5,600 B.C., or nearly 7,500 years ago, and those conditions had endured about 16,000 years. These numbers agree with those separately and on totally distinct grounds assigned by geologists to the duration and termination of the last glacial age. It is to be noted also that General Drayson's calculations were published very many years before geologists had arrived at any distinct and comparatively unanimous opinions on the subject. Astronomically, also, General Drayson's discovery, in his mathematical deductions from it, agrees absolutely with the observations of astronomers in the past two thousand years as to the obliquity of the ecliptic, the precession of the equinoxes, and the positions then occupied by all the principal stars, and this is the best possible proof of the truth of his discovery and the soundness of his reasoning.

The steps which led to General Drayson's discovery of the second rotation of the earth—with all its far-reaching consequences—were somewhat as follow: First, he was puzzled and dissatisfied by the vague and contradictory statements made in all books on-astronomy relative to a conical movement of the earth's axis without fixing the point about which it turned or the centre of the circle it described, about the precession of the equinoxes, and the variations in the obliquity of the ecliptic. He saw that it was geometrically impossible that the pole of the heavens, or the axis of the earth's daily rotation produced to the heavens, should be describing a circle round the pole of the ecliptic as a centre if this latter pole was movable, as was stated; for, if the ecliptic or plane of path of the earth round the sun was variable, the pole of this orbit must be moving also. Besides, it was not stated whether the north pole only was moving, or if the south pole was moving also, which was a very important consideration. Then it occurred to him, Why should the plane in which the earth's orbit lies be movable? Is it not much more probable that the inclination of the earth's axis of daily rotation moves? And the fact that the inclinations of the axes of rotation of the other planets vary from being nearly perpendicular to the plane of the orbit, as in the case of Jupiter, to being nearly

parallel in the case of Saturn, encouraged this idea. La Place and others had calculated that the plane of the earth's orbit could not vary more than a certain small amount,—in which they did not all agree;—but no one had discovered how much ib did move, or where the pole of the ecliptic would be at any particular epoch. Nor had any one attempted to determine what effect the known movement of the zenith of the north, pole of the earth has upon the zeniths of other places on the earth.

As an artillery officer he had studied the gyroscope with reference to the peculiar movements of the spinning projectiles thrown by rifled ordnance, and he knew that a rotating body, if perfectly balanced, maintained the direction of its axis perfectly in the same direction; but he also knew that a very small deviation of the centre of gravity from the centre of form produced a slow second rotation by which the direction of the axis of primary rotation was gradually altered. The question then arose in his mind, Is this what the earth, is doing? Is it also slowly rotating on some other axis, so that the poles of the axis of primary rotation are each describing circles round the poles of this secondary axis? If so, the first point was to find the pole of this axis of secondary rotation. The data he had to work from were the recorded positions of a number of the principal stars, and also the position amongst the stars of the north pole at certain dates extending back for some 2,000 years—from the star catalogue of Hipparchus, dated 140 B.C., and that of Ulugh Beigh, dated 1463 A.D., down to the more complete and accurate lists of later years. He laid down the arc described by the pole of the heavens between those dates, P¹ P² P³ (Plate XLV., fig. 1), and then by careful examination of the star lists he found that a certain star r had not varied its distance from the pole when the pole was at or near P¹, while other stars had varied their distances; he concluded that r, was therefore in the direction of the centre of the circle of which P¹ P² P³ was an arc when the pole was at P¹, Similarly, when the pole had reached P² and P⁸ successively, he found that certain stars s and t respectively did not vary their distances from P² and P⁸. The intersections of the lines P¹r, P²s, P³t, produced in the point C, showed that C was the centre, round which the pole of the northern heavens was slowly moving in a circle, and this was not the pole of the ecliptic, but 6° from it. Thus he obtained a sure standing-ground, and he proceeded to develope the full consequences of this brilliant and important discovery.

But first he cheeked his conclusion as to the true centre of the circle described by the north pole of daily rotation by means of the geometrical truth that all angles in the same

segment of a circle are equal to one another. He described the circle from the centre found as above, and saw that it passed through several well-known stars (Plate XLV., fig. 2).

Let a and b represent two such stars; P¹, P², P³, successive positions of the pole of daily rotation at intervals of, say, 1,000 years. If, then, Pa b be the true circle described by the pole the angles aP¹b, a P²b, must be equal to one another, but if the stars a and b are not in the circumference of the true circle the angles will not be equal. We are not told how many trials were made, and errors found and corrected; but at length the true centre was accurately determined, and it was found to be in the position above stated. It followed, therefore, that each of the poles of daily rotation was slowly tracing a circle in the heavens round the axis of second rotation. The time occupied in describing this arc of the circle fixed the time required for a complete second rotation, and the diameter of the circle passing through the pole of the elliptic gave the dates of the maximum and minimum obliquity and their amounts.

I will not attempt to indicate the astronomical consequences, beyond observing that they reduce to geometric and mathematical certainty what was before vague, and only defined as a conical motion of the earth's axis; the precession of the equinoxes and the obliquity of the ecliptic, which vary in their rates and amounts continually, are determined with perfect precision hundreds of years in advance; so also are the positions of stars for each zenith, for, as he shows, the zenith of each observatory moves by the second rotation in a special direction and at a special rate; and it is proved that in many cases, though probably not in all, the supposed proper motions of the stars are a result of the proper motions of the zeniths of the observatories, caused by the second rotation of the earth, and that the speculations about our system rushing through space towards the constellation Hercules have a doubtful foundation in facts. As General Drayson well puts it, however accurate and powerful our telescopes and observing-instruments may be, the real instrument with which we make our astronomical observations is the earth itself, which by its motions gives us our only means of measurement, and until we know precisely what its motions are we cannot make any really accurate observations.

Enough has been said on the astronomical aspect of the discovery. From our present point of view it is chiefly important from the fact that the most rigid scrutiny has hitherto failed to detect a flaw in the process of reasoning which has led to the discovery of the earth's second rotation, and the geometrical consequences of the discovery have been proved to correspond exactly with recorded astronomical observations

in such a multitude of stars and for so long a period that it is difficult to understand how more general recognition has not been given to the discovery. I fear that there is some human, feeling in the case. Unfortunately, General Drayson appears to have been somewhat embittered by this want of recognition, and in his book he devotes a good deal of space to poking sarcastic fun at the astronomers. They probably feel towards him much as the French engineers did towards the cavalry officer Montalembert, who dared to differ from the great Vauban and the teachings of the French professors of fortification, and to propose a system of his own. It was scouted and considered as rank heresy for many years; but he was right, outsider though he was, and their orthodox systems have disappeared from the modern civilized world, and have been replaced by the ideas of the cavalry officer. So, I venture to believe, will the second rotation of the earth, with all its far-reaching consequences, be universally accepted as true doctrine before many years are passed. Already the Royal Astronomical Society have tardily taken the first step by conferring the fellowship of the society on General Drayson.

With regard, however, to the geological aspect of this second rotation, it is objected that it saddles us with a succession of glacial ages at regular intervals in the past, of which we have no evidence: indeed, we have evidence of a genial climate in arctic, regions immediately preceding the glacial climate, and in former periods of the world's history we have evidence of climates very equable all over the earth at certain times.

General Drayson suggests, to meet this difficulty, that similar cause to that which probably produced the existing second rotation on an axis in its present position may under different conditions have produced a second rotation round a different axis, and, as a consequence, very different climatic conditions.

We know that at different periods in the world's history there have been very different distributions of sea and land from those which now exist. Now we have the bulk of the land in one part of the Northern Hemisphere. Supposing this special distribution to be the cause of the existing second rotation—as it well may be, small as the mass of the land above water is compared with the mass of the whole earth, for it alters the symmetry of the globe, and throws the centre of gravity some small distance out of the centre of the axis of daily rotation, and any such difference must inevitably cause a second rotation—admitting this cause, then, we can see that any considerable submergence of land in one place and elevation in another would alter the position of the centre of

gravity, and set up a secondary rotation on some other axis. We may suppose, for instance, that previous to the Glacial age the axis of second, rotation was in some such position as C¹ (Plate XLV., fig. 5), under which conditions the pole of daily rotation would have been close to E, the pole of the ecliptic, for many thousands of years, and consequently a uniform climate, without changes from summer to winter, would have prevailed all over the globe, although of course it would have been hotter near the equator than near the poles. If, when the pole reached A at the culmination of the Glacial period, the distribution of land and water were altered to approximately what it is now, so that the pole of the axis of the second rotation were shifted to C, the movement of the pole of daily rotation would gradually diverge from the path of the smaller circle to that of the larger, which it now pursues. This suggestion of General Drayson's is merely a hypothesis, which possibly might account for the more genial climate in arctic regions which geological evidence shows, to have existed previous to the Glacial age. The hypothesis would involve a shortening of the period of extreme cold by three or four thousand years. But when once we recognize the fact that any alteration in the form of the surface of the globe which moves the centre of gravity from its symmetrical position must cause a second rotation about an axis depending upon the balance of the globe at the time, we have a wide field of investigation opened to us as to the possible changes of climate which may have occurred during the past history of the globe.

In order to show that this cause of a second rotation of our globe is reasonable, we may make a rough comparison between the present conditions of the earth and those experimentally produced with a gyroscope.

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The most recent estimates of the extent of land in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres at present give an excess in the former of about 23,000,000 square miles, the greater part of it lying in the eastern part of the hemisphere. Assuming 1/10th of a mile, or about 500ft., as the average height of the land above the water, this would give 2,500,000 cubic miles of land. The volume of the globe is 260,000,000,000 cubic miles, and its density as a whole is about twice that of the upper strata: hence we find that about 1/226087th or, say, 1/230000th part of the mass of the earth projects at one point and throws it out of equipoise. Is this a sufficient cause to produce one second revolution in about 32,000 years, equivalent to 32,000 × 365 = 11,680,000 daily revolutions?

I assume the weight of a wheel of a gyroscope to be 11b., and that it is revolving fifty times in a second, and make a comparative rule-of-three statement to find how many of these

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revolutions would be required to produce a second rotation if a weight of ½oz., or 1/32nd part of the weight of the wheel, were added to one side to throw it out of balance, as compared with the 1/230000th of the mass of the earth which destroys its balance and produces a second rotation in 11,680,000 revolutions of weight of gyroscope: 1/230000 of weight of earth:: 11,680,000 revolutions of earth = 1,625 revolutions of the gyroscope, or 32 seconds. That is, under the above conditions the gyroscope ought to complete a second rotation in a little oveir half a minute; and this is approximately what would happen. Of course the comparison is very rough, because friction interferes very greatly with the action of the gyroscope, and the mode of the attachment of the extra weight and the direction of the pull of gravity are different; the estimate also of the protuberance on the earth is very inexact: still, it is sufficient to show that the second rotation of the earth is not only a fact discovered and proved astronomically, but that an efncien't cause to produce this effect exists in the present distribution, of land and water on the earth: Possibly the inequality of the earth's equatorial and polar diameters (to which Herschel in his popular explanation attributed the precession of the equinoxes) may have a perturbing effect, as the inclination of the earth's axis of daily rotation to the plane of its orbit varies in its second rotation.

There is, as I have said before, a wide field for future investigation opened up by this discovery of the second rotation of the earth, and most, probably it will be found that some minor corrections must be made in some of General Drayson's results, owing to perturbations resulting from other causes. But the beauty and simplicity of the secondary motion of the earth which has been brought to light by his sagacity and lifelong persistent labours seem to me to rank with the highest discoveries of astronomy, and the name of Drayson will in the future stand very high in the list of the great astronomers,^*

In connection with the ice age the historical nature of General Drayson's discovery is of deep importance, and, whether the great increase of the inclination of the earth's

axis of daily rotation to the plane of its orbit, which he proves to have occurred in both hemispheres for some 16,000 years, ending about 6,000 years ago, was or was not the sole efficient cause of the glacial conditions which immediately preceded the present climatic state of the earth in the Northern Hemisphere, it must have been a most important factor. Should it appear that glacial conditions were synchronous in both hemispheres, the astronomical explanation would seem to be complete.

This is really a crucial question, and I hope we may have some light thrown upon it this evening, as I suppose there are no living authorities so competent to give an opinion on the subject as some of those now present. My own imperfect observations, which have, been confined to the valley of the Waitaki and to the vicinity of Lake Wakatipu, have led me to believe that the great moraines and other evidences of glaciation to be seen there are geologically very recent: indeed, owing to the slight changes made by the hand of man in this country, they have the appearance of being even more recent than similar evidences of old glacial action which I have seen in Europe, because the latter have been considerably modified in most cases by human agency. If there be no strong reasons which would lead a geologist to assign a date for the southern glaciation some 100,000 years prior to that of the glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere, the astronomical changes traced out by Sir R. Ball cannot have been effective in this matter. Indeed, his explanation throws the whole cycle of changes 80,000 to 200,000 years back, which is contrary to geological evidence in the Northern Hemisphere, with which, however, Drayson's discovery, with its consequences, is perfectly in harmony.

Should it be established on sound geological evidence that the last ice age in the Southern Hemisphere was synchronous with that in the Northern Hemisphere, the harmony between geological results and astronomical causes, as demonstrated. by General Drayson, will be complete for the last ice age. Prestwich states that he has been unable to obtain any reliable evidence of glacial action in any of the formations between the Permian and the Recent; other geologists have thought they had evidence of intermediate ice ages. Possibly Sir R. Ball's theory may throw light on this question; but, as regards the last ice age, no cause that has been suggested appears to have weight or fitness compared with that resulting from General Drayson's discovery of the second rotation of the earth.

I think it was Galileo who, when objections were urged against his statement that the earth was daily revolving—not the heavens—contented himself with remarking, “E pur si muove,” Nevertheless it does move. General Drayson may

covery of the second rotation of the earth, as to the increase of the obliquity of the earth's axis of daily rotation to the plane of the ecliptic during a period of some 16,000 years, terminating about 7,500 years ago, are in perfect accord with the geological facts in the Northern Hemisphere, yet in the Southern Hemisphere the accord is not yet so well established. The southern extremity of South America is the only land in this hemisphere in which, on account of its latitude south, we could expect to find very marked evidence of the Glacial epoch, and such imperfect acquaintance as we have with this littleknown part of the world leads us to believe that in recent geological times glaciers on a large scale existed in latitudes much farther north than they are now to be found. Tasmania, in its western highlands, gives similar evidence, and even in southern Australia there are some concurrent records of lower temperature in winter than at present. In New Zealand, however, the record appears to be different, and Sir James Hector considers that any evidences of former glacial action should be referred to a much more distant date. The geology of New Zealand is very peculiar: the great faults and dislocations of strata show that in comparatively recent times great changes in level have occurred, and consequently the records of a changed climate during the ice age are very difficult to unravel; mountains which show evidences of glacial action are now at a lower level than neighbouring mountains which show no such evidences. The great sounds on the south-west coast of the Middle Island, if cut out by glaciers, would seem to require a very much longer time than 16,000 years for their excavation. We cannot therefore, at present, draw-any geological support for the second rotation of the earth from New Zealand, beyond the fact that in recent times there were glaciers here where there are none now. Possibly the climatic changes due to the changes in the ellipticity of the earth's orbit ascertained by Dr. Croll and Sir Robert Ball have here left their mark. I will not pretend to be able to decipher what our most able geologists are in doubt about, and must therefore leave New Zealand outside my argument, as an exceptional and perplexing problem; but I must, nevertheless, maintain that the surface of the rest of the earth, within the limits of the extension of the arctic and antarctic regions caused by the second rotation of the earth, has undoubted records of that extension both in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and that in Patagonia, Tasmania, and South Australia there is no real reason for supposing that these records were not of the same date as those in the Northern Hemisphere. It seems to me that, when this is established, it will give in the Southern Hemisphere a sure point of departure in time by which we may synchronize the southern

directly visible at O, because the rays were thrown downwards to W, not in the direction towards O. The bright patch of light persisted for some minutes, notwithstanding the revolution of the earth, which causes the apparent downward movement of the setting sun, both on account of a slight dispersion of the rays reflected from the window-panes, and also and more specially on account of the varying inclinations of the reflecting surfaces of the wavelets.

But not only is it necessary that the eye should be at the right level to see the reflection, the sun also being at the right elevation to produce it, but also the position of the eye in plan with reference to the direction of the sun's rays, and the orientation of the wall of the house, a window in which acts as the first reflecting mirror. This will be seen from the plan showing the course of the sun's rays if seen from above. The position of the setting sun in spring and autumn is about as shown on the plan, and it will be evident that the window acting as the first reflector must be such that the angle it forms with the impinging ray is equal to that formed by the reflected ray which reaches O in consequence of its second reflection from the surface of the water. If the building were in any other alignment the reflected ray would be otherwise directed, and would not be seen at O.

It will be evident, also, why I only see this reflection at this time of the year or in the autumn. When the sun sets farther south in the summer, or when it sets farther north in the winter, the reflections are thrown towards the north or the south, and are not visible at O, as they are when the sun is setting in the intermediate point. But by shifting the point of observation the reflection no doubt would be seen when the sun is at the same elevation, if the point of observation were at the same level, or, rather, in the same inclined plane.

The effect is the inevitable result of the law of reflection of light from reflecting surfaces—viz., that the angles of incidence and reflection are always equal and in opposite directions; but, to see the effect, the eye, the vertical mirror (which is the window), and the sun must be in the right positions to fulfil the conditions of the law of reflection.

A much more beautiful and astonishing effect of reflection is to be seen, however, under favourable circumstances under the steep clay escarpment of the hill on which Mr. Fitz-Gerald's house stands. This clay escarpment appears from my window to be of a uniform reddish-yellow colour, with patches of green bushes growing upon it. But when the surface of the water at the base of the cliff is not agitated by wind, and the afternoon sun is shining brightly on the cliff, the reflection in the water is coloured in the most gorgeous

manner with a beautiful intermingling of yellow, orange, red, and green, so intertwined and mingled that the effect is equally beautiful and astonishing. How comes it that the reflection of an object which seems uniform and dull in colour presents such a varied and brilliant appearance? The explanation I take to be as follows: The cliff—although, at the distance of over a mile from which it is viewed, it seems to be of a uniform and somewhat dull colour—is in reality composed of small pieces of clay, earth, and stone of very varied and comparatively pure colours. These are blended by distance into a uniform reddish-yellow; but each spot on the cliff, each coloured piece of clay or rock or green bush, is reflected in the water, and reflected not only once, but a great many times, on the numerous mirrors presented by the surfaces of the small ripples. This multiple reflection of each separate bit of colour enlarges it, and so makes that colour evident to the eye viewing the reflections from a distance, although the actual spot giving off the coloured rays which are thus repeated so frequently on the water-surface is too small to be detected by the eye at that distance.

I think that wonderfully close observer of nature, the great painter Turner, has, in one of his pictures of the Venice Lagoon, illustrated in some degree this peculiar effect of reflections from water when the surface is smooth but undulating; but I have never observed the effect so strikingly manifested as in the reflection of that clay cliff below Mr. FitzGerald's house, and I do not think that it has been generally noticed or recorded by landscape-painters.

There is to most minds a great pleasure and satisfaction in tracing effects back to their causes, even although we may be able only to take a few steps backwards, to detect a few of the last links of the long chain of causation which has brought about the result. This is all I have attempted to do on the present occasion. To do more would be to go over again, very imperfectly, the ground covered by the distinguished authors of the latest books on light (such as those of Sir George Stokes and Professor Tait), which explain the present state of our knowledge of this subject, whether actual or hypothetical, and also where even hypothetical knowledge ends and ignorance begins. I should have to attempt to answer such questions as these:—1. What is light? 2. What is the cause of the light of the sun? 3. How does this light travel from the sun to the earth? 4. What are the laws of reflection and refraction of light, and what are the causes of these laws? 5. What is the structure of the human eye? 6. How is the impression received by the eye conveyed to me? 7. What is life, which enables me to receive the information conveyed by light to the Qye, and from it by nerves and brain to me?—and many other

effect from any portion of matter by cooling it below the temperature of the coldest of surrounding objects.” Yet I shall attempt to show that hydrogen nearly at rest may take heat from a particle of cosmic dust, and, in this way, cool it below the temperature of surrounding objects, and that this energy may take the hydrogen to positions of higher gravitation potential. Thus low-temperature heat is turned into the potential energy of gravitation. I shall also attempt to show that by inorganic means the known laws of nature are at work taking the place of Professor Clerk Maxwell's imaginary demons, who, he suggests, by sorting atoms, may elevate energy.

I do not in the least quarrel with Lord Kelvin's argument in the Fortnightly, in which he classifies the attempt of Hutton and Lyell to make the solar system a perpetualmotion engine as of the same order as the efforts of the humblest mechanical perpetual-motionist. Undoubtedly Lord Kelvin's views are true of the earth, of the solar system, and even of the universe. It is only in the study of the interaction of systems that the axiom is found to fail.

Of course, the great generalization of cosmic evolution, of which this paper is a part, only acquired its present form as contained in the published Synopsis after almost endless modifications; but for the past twelve years, although enlarged, it has otherwise remained practically unchanged, and, although I have in many lectures submitted its principles to the judgment of Honours scientific and mathematical university graduates, no flaw has yet been detected in the reasoning.

The practical demonstration of the accuracy of the more fundamental part of this generalization by its anticipation of many recently-discovered and complex phenomena, combined with the independent rediscovery by Dr. Johnstone Stoney, and the indorsement by the scientific world, of what I have called “selective molecular escape,” confirms the confidence I have always felt in the more complex and far-reaching part of the theory of constructive impact.

The theory of the dissipation of energy as defined by Preston (“Theory of Heat”) states, with respect to the energy of the universe, that “it is constantly undergoing transformations,” and that “there is a constant dissipation in operation, and a constant degradation to the final unavailable form of uniformly-diffused heat.”

It affirms, practically, that all the agencies of the cosmos tend to concentration of matter and diffusion of energy. In its baldest form it supposes that the cosmos was once a mass of infinitely diffused gas, and will finish by being a simple, cool body, at a temperature uniform with that of space. The

following reasoning provides the only means of escape from this dismal conclusion that has not been refuted.

If, as I consider Proctor has conclusively proved, our universe is of definite and not chance form, it must have had a definite and not chance mode of evolution; and if, as I have suggested elsewhere, its form is demonstrably similar to that resulting from the partial collision of two previously-existing universes, we have a right to postulate the existence of universes other than our own; and late photographic observations suggest, at least, that we have such universes actually within sight in the shape of the Magellanic Clouds.

If light suffers extinction in travelling long distances, as Struvé's observations suggest to be the case, and as seems reasonable considering the dusty condition of space, then the number of unseen universes may be infinite.

In disproving the theory of dissipation as applied to the whole cosmos, we do not have to prove the immortality of the cosmos, but only to demonstrate the possibility of its immortality. The idea that the process of cosmic evolution is finite in time is so essentially repugnant to most minds that it is only after the most diligent search for and the failure to show the possibility of the contrary that the dissipation theory has been accepted. Rankine, Clausius, and other great physicists have attempted to remove it; but their reasoning has been shown to be faulty. It is easy also to show that Herbert Spencer's attempt in his “First Principles” fails on grounds of equivalent energy.

If space is dusty, radiation may all be caught by matter, thus raising its mean temperature, and so it is possible that no radiation is wasted, but that it all falls upon the meteoric and other matter of space. The idea that space is thus occupied throughout with gaseous molecules and solid meteoric and other dust is common to many hypotheses. Some sixteen years ago I demonstrated, and Dr. Johnstone Stoney has recently shown, that there is a tendency for light molecules, such as hydrogen, to obtain velocities high enough to enable them to escape from gravitating masses. I have shown this to be the case particularly during impacts, when molecular escape would probably be, on the average, very considerable. Again, the coalescence of free heavy gaseous molecules escaping from dissipating bodies, together with impacts between comparatively small bodies, tends to besprinkle space with solid matter in the form of dust. The formation of such free solid matter is discussed in my Synopsis under the head of “The Formation of Star-clusters and Meteoric Swarms.”

When moving bodies, molecular or otherwise, are not in closed orbits they remain but a short time at high velocities. The highly hyperbolic orbit of a comet in its journey round

the sun is a characteristic instance of this. The comet is a few days near the sun at high velocity, then it remains for longer and longer periods at lessened velocity, getting slower and slower, until it is beyond the sun's effective gravitation. Therefore gaseous molecules distant from gravitation, as a rule, are moving slowly. But slowly-moving gas is cold,—colder than the solid dust of space,—and any of this gas coming in contact with cosmic dust will be warmed by this dust, and, heat being molecular motion, will bound off with renewed velocity, to be again exhausted only (in the absence of contact with other matter) by doing work against gravitation, and so passing to rarer portions of space, where potential energy is higher, finally moving slowest of all where there is least matter.

In the case of bodies moving indiscriminately, where motion is slowest, they tend to aggregate. If over a plain all persons walked in indiscriminate directions at four miles per hour, except within a certain area where they walked one mile per hour, there would be on the average four times as many persons in equal areas within that space as elsewhere. So in cosmic space this diffused gas will move slowest, and tend to aggregate in the bare parts of the cosmos. Thus, to summarize: Radiant energy falling on the dust of space is converted into diffused heat, the lowest form of energy, and this is transferred to free light molecules, increasing their velocity, and this motion is converted into the potential energy of gravitation, the highest form of energy. At one and the same time, in opposition to the theory of the dissipation of energy, there is a tendency to disperse matter and raise energy.

Were hydrogen and other light molecules plentiful enough, obviously this action would not cease until the rare parts of space were as well filled with these light molecules as the rest of space with other matter. There is no necessity, however, to assume this enormous amount of hydrogen as far as the purpose of this theory is concerned, for after a time another action sets in. Where matter is aggregated into condensed masses, as in our universe, free bodies such as comets, or stars of 1830 Groombridge type, pass through and escape from them; but this is not the case in a mass of diffused gas, the retarding friction of which tends to stop all such wandering bodies entering it. Thus the sparse portions of space, once filled with diffused hydrogen, become traps to catch indiscriminately-travelling matter. So after a time accumulation goes on, not because molecules come to partial rest there, but because of the gathering action of the friction of diffused gas, and coalescence sets in, due to the presence of these trapped stars. As radiation from these bodies permits condensation, a new universe begins to form

in what was the rarest part of space; so that an action is constantly going on tending to balance the distribution of matter in space, whilst the action of gravitation is as constantly tending to unequal distribution.

It may be asked, How can matter ever escape such a universe again? Two or three methods suggest themselves, and there are probably others. Firstly, contact with hot bodies having no atmosphere would give the gaseous matter an escaping velocity. Secondly, any bodies coming into impact would tend to lose their hydrogen through the phenomena known as “selective escape.” Thirdly, three bodies passing near each other may give one of them an escaping velocity at the expense of the other two. Universes formed in this way by aggregation in the rare parts of space may be called universes of the first order; whilst universes such as the one of which our solar system forms a part—universes obviously made up of the coalescence of two impacting universes—may be called universes of the second order. If a universe formed by the coalescence of two similar universes necessarily contained more matter than one of the original universes, when the coalesced universe had condensed to its size a process of aggregation would be going on in the cosmos that would ultimately lead to the increase of the masses of universes, and the cosmic process would not be strictly rhythmic.

I have already suggested three agencies, in universes of the first order, by which matter may pass out of universes. In addition to these it can be shown that, during the ages of coalescence and subsequent expansion of the system, there are many agencies that will send matter out of the system.

Taken altogether there seems reason to suppose that sometimes the collision of universes may make three of two, sometimes make one of less mass than either of the two original universes, and sometimes one of greater mass than either. But the agencies are of such complexity and variety that they would simply overload this statement of the possibility of an immortal cosmos. The most important agency to consider is the approach of three bodies. This may gradually use up the chief energy of a system in sending bodies out of the system. As is well known, whenever three bodies pass near each other, one at least has its velocity increased at the expense of the other two. It may so happen amongst the members of a system that one has its velocity so increased as to actually escape the attractive power of the system itself, and become a free wanderer, as 1830 Groombridge is believed to be in our universe. No matter how rare an event this may be; only give time enough, and most of the energy of motion must be used up in thus causing the escape of bodies. For we must remember, if once, in a thousand chance approaches,

a body attains sufficient velocity to escape, when it has that velocity it is gone for ever, so that ultimately most of the remaining energy of a system of indiscriminately – moving bodies will be used up in giving an escaping proper motion to some of its members.

Think of an analogy. The energy of the attraction of potassium for oxygen is enormous compared with the affinity of carbon for oxygen. But carbon is a fixed substance, as also is carbonate of potash. When, by the most extraordinary coincidence of abnormal velocities, carbon succeeds in dislodging potassium and taking up its oxygen, both the substances form gases, and they at once escape the influence of their affinities; and so this most remarkable fact occurs: that carbon is capable of reducing potassium from its compounds. So with the escaping bodies from a system: give them time enough, and they must go as long as there is energy enough to send them.

Nor must we forget that, as a universe contracts, its potential energy is slowly turned into motion, so that the mean velocity of stars will become much greater. They would be closer together, and the number of their approaches and encounters more and more frequent, tending all the time to disperse matter. Taken altogether there seems to be an abundance of agencies from the time of impact and coalescence of the original universes to the time of the concentration of this new universe for the dispersal of one-half of the original mass; so that at the final state of the universe its mass will be no greater than that of one of the universes from which it was formed.

The series of these agencies are as follow:—

• two, as many agencies tend to send matter out of the coalescing mass.

Thus, in contradistinction to the theory of dissipation of energy, there appears to be no evidence to show that the cosmos as a whole is other than immortal. The great Creator, when He launched the infinite, did not do His work blunderingly, but gave us a system equally perfect, whether it be in the marvellous forces within the minutest atom, the complex structure of organic molecular groupings, the infinity of cosmic dimensions, or the eternity of cosmic duration. There is no flaw in the perfection of the vast design. Atoms clash, combine, and form molecules; and these break up again. Organisms are born and die. Worlds, systems, and universes are evolved, play their part, disintegrate, and disperse, only to be born again in new and complex systems. But the mighty cosmos remains ever rhythmic in its giant energies. Man's mind reels on the brink of the unfathomable as he tries to grasp the mystery even of his own being. Everything around him forces on his mind a feeling of profound humility at his insignificance. At the same time also his surroundings force upon him the most absolute faith in the perfection of the whole creation of which he is so minute a part. In the contemplation of this perfection does not one feel certain that the present disorder and misery of the world is merely that short paroxysm of apparent chaos from which order will evolve? Is it credible that the evolution of mental power, that has enabled man to pierce so far the superb grandeur of the infinite,—has enabled him to harness the forces of nature to serve his needs,—shall suddenly cease? Is it to be conceived that man will remain content to see supine indifference and self-ishness destroy all that is lovely in life? It is incredible. We have but a glimpse of the eternal, but in that glimpse we see such marvellous perfection of action that we cannot fail to feel that if the same profound thought, the same unbiassed judgment, be brought to bear on the tangled affairs of human life they may be as fully unravelled as is the complex mechanism of the cosmos. May it not be that, just as the burnt child dreads the fire, so the awful effect of the selfishness that has produced the present misery amongst humanity may burn its lesson so deeply into the mind as to be ineffaceable in human history? It appears clear that, as Nordau has pointed out, pleasurable emotion alone can be persistent, and pain and misery are indications of those that are decadent. If this be so, what a marvellous gospel of hope is contained in the religion of science! If the so-called unpractical theory of cosmogony should only so awaken human intelligence that mankind sees clearly the perfection of the method of evolution, and acts upon the lesson, such unpractical theories will prove

Hatch for a passage to the island and back for Mr. Jennings (the Museum taxidermist) and myself, the University Council having kindly granted me leave of absence from my duties.

An excellent description of the general features of Macquarie Island has already been given in the Transactions by Professor J. H. Scott,^* but there is still much interesting information to be gathered from an island so barren and inhospitable. Darwin said, in 1857, “It is my most deliberate conviction that nothing would and more natural history than carefully collecting and investigating all the productions of the most isolated islands, especially of the Southern Hemisphere.” This is certainly as true now as it was then; and, notwithstanding the discomforts and perils of the voyage, I should certainly like to have the opportunity of staying for twelve months on the island to complete a year's observations on the habits of the penguins and other birds, the few days which we spent on the island being quite inadequate for observations of much value.

Macquarie Island^† is about 540 miles from the south-west cape of Stewart Island, and was discovered by the master of a sailing-vessel^‡ early in the present century. It is said that no less than 80,000 fur-seals were obtained from the island by that party. Fur-seals are hardly ever seen there now.

The exact size of the island is unknown. The English chart made by Lieutenant Langdon in 1822 makes it thirty-eight miles long. The Russian navigator, Bellinghausen, in 1820, made it only nineteen miles long—probably as much too short as the other was too long. In 1840 Captain Wilkes, of the United States Exploring Expedition, landed a party on the island on the west side. There are bold outlying rocks at each end of the island. The bold rocky shores afford but little shelter and but indifferent anchorage, the water being deep close into the land: 10 to 90 fathoms are marked on the chart all along the east side at three miles from shore. At present the usual anchorages are on the east side—at the Nuggets and at Lusitania Bay. Both English and Russian accounts agree in making the island about five or six miles wide.

In 1890 an endeavour was made to get the island annexed or transferred to New Zealand, as it was found to belong to Tasmania, but without success.^§ It was agreed, however,

that the taking of seals of any kind should be prohibited; and regulations to that effect, under section 12 of “The Fisheries Act, 1889” (53 Vict., No. 11), were issued in 1891 by the Tasmanian Government, and published in the Hobart Gazette (21st April, 1891). This being the law, it was necessary for us to apply for permission to kill some sea-elephants for scientific purposes. The requisite permit was kindly granted by the Colonial Secretary of Tasmania before we left New Zealand.

Like the other outlying islands of the South, there is already a mournful list of wrecks on this speck in the waste of waters, and some rude graves at the northern end of the island contain the remains of some who surely here rest in peace. The “Caroline,” a ship supposed to have been named the “Eagle,” and several others have gone to pieces on these shores. Though not wrecked on the island, the people of New Zealand will always associate the disappearance of the steamer “Kakanui”^* with Macquarie Island, when nineteen men were lost on the return of the steamer to New Zealand. She no doubt foundered in one of the heavy gales which are so frequent in this part. In 1830 the “Lord Nelson” was lost at the north-west end. At a place now called Eagle Bay, about half-way down the west coast, the “Eagle” was lost, and her crew had to remain on the island about two years; some of them died before they were rescued. The “Caroline,” a barque, was wrecked at the south end in 1838. The “Countess Cimento” was wrecked in 1849, about three miles from the north end, on the east coast; and in 1879 the schooner “Bencleugh” was wrecked near the same place.

The vessel in which we sailed is a smart little ketch of about 100 tons called the “Gratitude,” and we embarked from Dunedin wharf with all our stores and collecting-material on the 22nd of February. This vessel usually makes three trips in the year—in December, February, and March. A good supply of stores was taken, as it was considered possible that Mr. Jennings might find it necessary to remain on the island till the vessel returned on the March trip. Besides ourselves, there were two boys from Dunedin as passengers, so the small cabin was very crowded.

Our passage along the coast was slow and uneventful. Between the Otago Heads and the Nuggets I saw some gannets and an occasional albatros (D. exulans). Being a very bad-sailor, I was soon in “Sick Bay,” and I got worse and worse, until at one time I thought I should never land again; and I was confined to my bed the whole of the voyage, both

going and returning, with a bilious fever. The weather, from a landsman's point of view, was certainly boisterous and disagreeable. On the 25th February we saw the steep and majestic rocks known as the Solanders, and, having passed these, we stood to the westward, and felt that our voyage had now really begun. It is necessary to get a good deal to the westward in making a course for the island, as it is extremely difficult to approach from the eastward against the prevailing winds and currents. Between the 2nd and 12th of March we were tossed about, and sustained considerable damage to our sails and gear. Once we got down within a short distance of the position of the island, and a furious gale drove us back a long distance to the northward. The ship itself behaved splendidly, riding like a duck over the furious seas, and shipping very little water. Very few birds were seen after leaving the New Zealand coast. On the 10th a few petrels were seen about the ship; and in the evening land was sighted—the north-west corner of the island. All sail was crowded on to try and gain the shelter of the east side of the island from the stiff gale which was blowing. The gale increased, and we had the prospect of being again driven back, but by tacking off and on all night we managed to keep the land in sight, and in the morning bore down upon it, running in towards the Nuggets, the northern anchorage on the east side. Here we were met by a whaleboat from the island with some of the shore party in it. Delivering Mr. Hatch's letter of instructions, we arranged to be landed with all our stores at the southern station in Lusitania Bay. As we kept along the rocky coast-line we could see large colonies of penguins on the beaches between the headlands. Flocks of small grey petrels and mutton-birds flew round the ship, with an occasional black-backed gull and some giant petrels, or nellies. At Lusitania Bay we went in and dropped anchor within a few hundred yards of the shore in 15 fathoms of water. The wind increased in strength, and it was impossible to land, as, although the wind was off the land, there was too much surf. We had to amuse ourselves by watching the thousands of king penguins (Aptenodytes) sporting around us, sometimes chasing each other in strings like porpoises, at other times rushing by in a compact body, seemingly moving in concert, diving, and bobbing up and down, lying on their backs in a most comical way, and making every now and then a curious “quank,” which at a certain distance and at certain times seems like a human cry. They manifested great curiosity, or else took the ship for a new kind of rock, as they were constantly pecking at the sides, and apparently trying to scramble on board. They were very quick in their movements, easily avoiding anything thrown at them by a sudden dive, reappearing the next

instant. We could not see that they caught anything in the way of food, but they seemed to come off in large parties from the shore and swim round the ship, playing and springing clean out of the water, and after a little time returning to the shore, landing on the crest of a wave, and scrambling up the stony beach in a most comical way. The wind swept down from the hills with such force that our anchor dragged, and in endeavouring to get it up the cable parted, and we lost the anchor and 45 fathoms of chain. We were not in a condition to go to sea again, so the vessel was run in quite close to the land, and another anchor dropped in about 8 or 10 fathoms. This fortunately held; and at 10 o'clock on the following morning (the 12th March), the tide being high, we were safely landed on the shingle-beach, after passing through the great beds of kelp which cover the rocks near the shore. Our party was left here while the ketch went north to the anchorage at the Nuggets to discharge her cargo of coal, casks, and stores, and take in her cargo of casks of oil for the Bluff.

The island has for some years been visited by parties from Port Chalmers and the Bluff, for the purpose of procuring sea-elephant oil and penguing-oil, both of which oils are much used in commerce, particularly in the manufacture of twine and rope. The slaughter of the sea-elephants has practically ceased, but the heaps of bones and the quantities of oil obtained indicate that a large number have been killed in the past. The chief industry now is the boiling-down of the royal penguin (E. schlegeli). For the purposes of the party, the fat birds are selected as they pass up and down from the sea to the “rookery,” usually those of a year old. After being killed with a club, the penguins are bled and partly cleaned, and then thrown bodily into the steam digesters and steamed for some hours. The season for fat birds lasts only for about six weeks, and during that time the party are kept hard at work. This is at the end of January. The oil from the digesters passes into large vats, and the refuse is thrown out into heaps, and if there were any means of bringing it easily to civilized parts it would be of great value as manure. From the vats the oil is put into casks, and on the arrival of the vessel the casks have to be rafted out through the surf to the ship. This is a difficult and dangerous operation, and requires much experience and skill. The oil is refined at Invercargill. Mr. Hatch has been put to much trouble and expense in establishing the necessary buildings and machinery and the excellent accommodation, both at the Nuggets and at Lusitania, for the men who go down. These men usually form a party, and contract to furnish so many gallons of oil during their stay on the island. One very serious item of expense is found in the necessity for taking down all the wood and coal requisite for

the digesters and for domestic purposes. The factory at Lusitania at the king-penguin rookery is not now used; the great heap of refuse testifies to the great number of birds destroyed. No impression, however, seems to have been made on the numbers occupying the beach, as every available place seemed full of birds.

The area of the island is probably about the same as that of Otago Peninsula, and it has been already well described by Professor Scott before this Institute after his visit in 1880. The rough-sketch outline annexed (Plate L.) will give some idea of the relative positions of the places afterwards mentioned. The hut in which we lived at Lusitania stood on the crown of the shingle-beach. Immediately behind it was a small creek coming down from the hills at the back, over the sloping terrace thickly covered with a huge tussock grass. This grass (Poa foliosa) forms a huge stool, around which is usually a muddy pool more or less deep, into every one of which you plunge with unerring certainty when trying to cross the belt of tussock swamp, the only way to avoid this unpleasantness being to jump from the top of one tussock to another. Once beyond the belt of swamp you ascend the steep slopes of the hills, and here you struggle and wrestle with the huge leaves of the Macquarie Island cabbage (Stilbocarpa polaris) a plant resembling very fine rhubarb. The tussocks and the Stilbocarpa become smaller as you ascend, and at about 300ft. you gain a plateau so swept by the antarctic gales that vegetation is reduced to compact closely-growing mosses, small Uncinias, and the conspicuous cushion-like masses of Azorella selago. In the hollows of the uplands are countless little tarns or lakes, some of considerable extent. Round the tops of the hills the wind has cut out wonderful terraces from a few inches to a foot or two in height, with completely bare rock much disintegrated by the weather on the top. In some of the more sheltered places or gullies stunted plants of Stilbocarpa and Pleurophyllum cover the ground. The Pleurophyllum was, unfortunately, long past flower, and so I did not get any specimens of this beautiful aster-like flower, with its purple ray-florets and yellow centre. The majority of the plants on the island are littoral, and are to be found on the swampy ground near the beach. It is interesting to see how the introduced Poa annua has taken possession of the highly-manured soil on the crown of the beach, and radiates from the settlements, together with some other introduced weeds. From the ship it appeared as if there were some good-sized bushes or shrubs growing on the lower levels, but on landing these were found to be only huge detached rocks overgrown with mosses and large tussocks of Poa foliosa. On the whole of the island there is not

a shrub or plant large enough to make a penholder. Indeed, the only plant of a ligneous genus is the small creeping Coprosma repens.

From the list given by Professor Scott, and the revision of the Macquarie Island plants published by Mr. T. Kirk in the Proceedings of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, it was evident that there was very little chance of finding any useful shrubs; so before leaving Dunedin I determined to try and establish some on the island that might some day be of use, at any rate, for firewood. Mr. Matthews, of Mornington, kindly gave me a large bag of seeds of several New Zealand Pittosporums, and of a variety of deciduous trees. Messrs. Howden and Moncrief also gave me some seeds of several varieties of pines. I also took a quantity of cabbage-seed. I took the opportunity of sowing these seeds in various places around Lusitania Bay, and I trust that some of them may become established. Somehow the very seed that we ought to have taken—manuka (Leptospermum)—nobody thought of. This would have been probably the best calculated to succeed in that climate, and would have been of service for fuel. The time of year was an unfavourable one for the experiment, as the winter was just coming on, and the germinating plants would experience the cold at the most critical time. The large Poa tussocks are the great feature of the low levels, and on the hill-tops the special feature is the Azorella, masses of bright-green closely-growing convex masses of stems and leaves. These masses are so solid and elastic as to bear the weight of a man without material injury. Embedded in the substance of this cushion grow two small but interesting plants—Coprosma repens, with its striking dimorphous flowers and scarlet berries; and a very minute form of a fern, Polypodium australe, the frond of which is about ½in. long. This truly alpine form I have collected on the top of the Kaweka Mountains, in Hawke's Bay. Two other ferns are found on the island: the one is Lomaria alpina, the other Aspidium aculeatum, var. vestitum. The plants which I collected on the island have been submitted to my friend Mr. Kirk and to Mr. Petrie, and I have to thank them very heartily for the trouble they have taken in identifying the specimens. I had hoped to find something very new and striking in an island which the soundings show to be separated by a deep submarine valley of 1,000 fathoms from New Zealand, but the results seem to support the conclusion arrived at in the report on the “Challenger” voyage: that the composition of the vegetation of the remotely-separated exceedingly small islands in the southern seas, on the extreme limit of phanerogamic life, is practically the same all round the globe, and is, in all probability, the remains of a more ex-

• Acæna sanguisorbæ, Vahl. This is A. buchanani of Professor Scott's list. Acæna occurs on Kerguelen^* and on South Georgia. An infusion of the leaves of this plant is said to be a febrifuge and an efficient anti-scorbutic by whalers, and is sometimes known as “Kerguelen tea.” (Kidder.)

• A. adscendens, Vahl. [Note by Mr. Kirk: “This species was collected on Macquarie Island by Fraser.” Handbook N.Z. Flora, p. 56.]

• Callitriche antarctica, Engl. This species was without flower or fruit at the time of my visit, so the identification can hardly be positive, but the same species occurs at Kerguelen and on South Georgia.

• Epilobium nummularifolium, A. Cunn. Growing in the swamps.

• Epilobium, linnæoides, Hook. f. A prostrate form. This species is also recorded from Antipodes Island and the other islands up to New Zealand.

• Azorella, selago, Hook. f. No flowers or fruit could be found on any of the specimens seen. [Note by Mr. Kirk: “Kidder states that he could not find hair or bristles on the upper surface of the leaf in the Kerguelen plant. They are present in these specimens, which have neither flowers nor fruit.”]

• Stilbocarpa polaris, Hook. f. A noble plant, which grows in perfection on the steep slopes of the cliffs. Its local name is Macquarie Island cabbage.

• Coprosma repens, Hook. Growing in the masses of Azorella and in the tufts of moss on the higher grounds. [Note by Mr. Kirk: “Stamens four; stimas four in many flowers. Interesting as attaining the highest southern limit of ligneous vegetation.”]

• Cotula plumosa, Hook. f. This handsome plant grows well along the littoral belt, but not so luxuriantly as in the Auckland Islands. Recorded from the Crozets and Kerguelen's Land by Dr. Kidder and by the English Transit of Venus Expedition,^† who also noted that the whalers consider an infusion of this plant to be a prompt and effectual emetic. (Hooker, fide Rev. A. Eaton.)

• Pleurophyllum hookerianum, J. Buch. This handsome plant was long past flowering when we landed, and the tips of the silvery leaves were frost-bitten. The last flowering did not seem to have been very general, as a very small

• percentage bore the dry flower-spikes. On one plant there were nine of these, bearing the remains of 164 flowers. The seedlings, even while the leaves are less than 3in. long, have strong stout rootlets, which go down through the mass of vegetable matter in which they grow. There is absolutely no sand or loam for them to grow in—nothing but decayed vegetable matter. In a specimen before me,-in which the leaves are about 20mm. long, the rootlet is 160mm. in length. Mr. Kirk notes that “the leaves of the young plants approach those of P. criniferum more nearly than specimens from Auckland and Campbell Islands, but the identification is certain. This is doubtless the P. criniferum of Professor Scott's list.” The edges of the leaves carry stiff bristles. The silvery patches of this handsome plant show out plainly among the mosses and grasses in the drier parts of the swamps, and in sheltered places on the uplands.

• Uncinia nervosa, Boott. [Note by Mr. Kirk: “This plant is intermediate between U. compacta, R. Br., and U. tenella, R. Br.: the leaves closely approach those of the former, while the fruits resemble the latter, but are of a darker colour, and more glossy. The spike is scarcely longer than that of U. tenella. It is U. cheesemanii, Bœckeler.”]

• Luzula crinita, Hook. f. This appeared to be the only Luzula on the island. I failed to get. L. campestris of Professor Scott's list.

• Deschampsia hookeri, T. Kirk,^* var. inermis and var. effusa. [Mr. Kirk says, “Both are interesting varieties of one of the most variable grasses in the colony.”] Mr. Petrie considers the first to be D. tenella, Petrie.

• Deschampsia penicillata, n. sp. (MS.), T. Kirk.^† A puzzling species, which is provisionally named pending the examination of the other species new to New Zealand.

• Poa foliosa, Hook f., a. This noble grass forms huge tussocks, especially in the damper portions and where the drainage and the liquid manure from the penguin rookeries assists its growth. In such places one can walk between the columns with the plant waving far overhead.

• Poa hamiltonii, T. Kirk.^‡ [Mr. Kirk says, “Allied to P. anceps, Forst., and P. foliosa, Hook. f. One of the most distinct species in the flora.”]

• Poa annua, L. Naturalized, and doing very well.

• Agrostis antarctica, Hook. f. = A. multicaulis, Hook. f. [Mr.

• Kirk says, “The palea is poorly developed, or absent in many flowers. = A. multicaulis, Hook. f., and I think this name should have precedence.”]

• Festuca contracta, T. Kirk, n.s. [Mr. Kirk says, “Certainly not F. duriuscula, L.; but the specimens are not very good, being mostly too far advanced, and many of the glumes are infested with a small Sphæria.”]

• Aspidium aculeatum, Swn., var. vestitum. A very coarse form, with large and beautiful scales. The patches of this fern, being of a very dark colour, are visible against the lighter green of the Stilbocarpa and the yellow of the dead grass for some distance.

• Polypodium australe, Mitt. Plentiful in clumps of Azorella on the highest parts of the island.

• Lomaria alpina, Sprengl. Not seen near Lusitania, but obtained on the west coast.

• Lycopodium billardieri, Sprengl., var. varium: The habit is like that of L. selago, but denser; the leaves are much broader. Seedling plants growing amongst the stems have distant oblong leaves. Found on the hills immediately behind Lusitania Bay.

In addition to the above plants, I also collected Tillæ, moschata, DC.,^* and two species of Cyperaceæ, but the whole of the specimens of these were lost in the accident which occurred on the homeward voyage. The mosses and lichens collected were so injured by the wet, and by the delay of some months which occurred before they were brought up from the island, that I fear it will probably be impossible to give a list of any value.

At the time of our visit the king penguins (Aptenodytes) had nearly finished their breeding-season, and the royals and victorias (E. chrysolophus and pachyrhynchus) were moulting. The chief king-penguin rookery seen by us was the one at Lusitania Bay. Here a small stream comes sparkling down under the overarching leaves of the Stilbocarpa, and spreads itself out over the fan-like talus of rock-fragments brought down by its waters and the coarse blue shingle which composes the beaches, and eventually trickles through the looser portion to the sea. Moseley,^† in his description of the penguin rookeries at Tristan d'Acunha, gives a vivid description of the discomforts of crossing through one of these large collections of birds; so we had taken the precaution of having some strong canvas leggings made, and were thus well “armed,” or defended,

from the vicious pecks and the vigorous blows from the wings of the birds. The interest and the novelty of the sight of 30 or 40 acres of penguins made up for the deafening noise and the fearful smell, and we found that if we stood still the birds did not take the trouble to move or bite. Some of the birds were fighting with their neighbours, standing still, either in a puddle or on a wet slimy stone, but keeping their wings and bill in constant action, their apparent object being to make everybody keep his regulation distance from the others. No sign of a nest is to be seen. Subangular fragments of rock covered with slimy black mud cover the ground, and the beautiful white breasts of the birds were simply filthy with the splashings. Some few birds just at the edge of the crowd (late arrivals, I suppose) had eggs not yet hatched, one egg to each bird, and this egg was carefully carried on the two big black feet, with a fold of the skin of the abdomen tucked over it. They even found it possible to move about like this, with the egg in this curious position, much resembling a boy in a sack-race. There were others whose anxieties were over, and who had the care of a fat little chicken, as black as a coal and very helpless. They all endeavoured to get as far under their parent as possible; but these seemed to be very little protection for them. During incubation I am told that the male relieves the female about every two days, but I cannot affirm this of my own knowledge. There is no perceptible difference between the males and the females. The distance allowed around each bird seemed to be about 1ft. 4in., and any encroachment on this area caused an immediate squabble, which only ceased when the intruder had been driven out and order restored. This large rookery reaches from the crown of the beach to the foot of the hill-slope or cliff, and appeared to be devoted entirely to the breeding birds, a constant stream of birds passing up and down from their stations in the rookery to the sea and returning again. Some of the young birds were of large size, and the down which covers their body of a dark-brown or black colour. In a few cases I saw the young birds fed, their parent giving up some part of its own dinner. I could not ascertain if a bird always returned to exactly the same spot; from the amount of struggling and pushing going on I should imagine that they did. The slopes of the beach in front of the breeding-ground were apparently devoted to the bachelors, and the birds who occupied various nooks and corners and small grassy plots between the tussocks seemed to attach themselves to these particular places. I marked one fine bird that belonged to a party of about twenty who occupied the open grassy place just under the window of the small room in which I slept, and, with the exception of an occasional short

absence for a swim, he and his friends were generally within a very short distance of the house, and always spent the night there. I took one of the large brown young birds, nearly as large as an adult, from the middle of the breeding-ground, and carried it down to the beach, and let it loose amongst the bachelors and the “unemployed.” Directly I put it on the ground it set up its cry of distress—a very shrill whistle, quite unlike the hoarse croak of the adult. It was set upon at once by all the birds in the neighbourhood, and thrashed and driven up the beach towards its proper quarters. If it went in any way out of the direct line half a dozen birds would make a furious rush to turn it into the right path, and they only left it when it regained the rookery and vanished in the crowd.

Nearly the whole of the Lusitania beach, over half a mile in length, is occupied by king penguins; but a small colony of royal penguins were camped at one part, moulting, probably crowded out of some other beach. These birds have thick, powerful beaks, and they varied their existence by most desperate duels for the most trivial causes, striking each other about the head till the blood flowed freely. These birds are much smaller than the kings, but have an attractive crest of yellow feathers when in good plumage.

Sailing about overhead were numbers of the dark-coloured hawk-like skua gull—Lestris antarctica (Stercorarius antaac-ticus)—the terror of all other birds. The working party find them so destructive to the young penguins that, by means of poison, a very large number have been killed to protect the oil interest. They are still extremely numerous. I did not, however, find them so bold as some have reported them. Not being their breeding-season may have made the difference.

A little to the southward of the Lusitauia beach is a breeding-place of the victoria penguin (E. filholi), and the air was filled with the flying feathers and down from the moulting birds. These little birds are very active, and climb up and down the face of the cliffs in a most agile manner, and are much more entitled to the name “rock-hopper” than the other species (Pygoscelis taniata), which are much less plentiful and more lumbering in their gait.

There are four kinds of penguins on the island. The king penguins (Aptenodytes) do not make any attempt at a nest; the royal penguins (Eudyptes schlegeli) carry up stones or bones from the beach to a convenient place amongst the grass for their nests; the victorias (Eudyptes filholi) pluck grass and form a rough nest; the rock-hoppers (Pygoscelis) do the same, generally on the slope of a cliff. The kings lay their eggs from December to February or March; the royals lay in September, and also the rock-hoppers; the victorias in

September. At certain times in the year the birds become extremely fat. In February a fat royal penguin will weigh 141b.; a king penguin will weigh at least 301b. It seems to be pretty well established that all the four kinds of penguins migrate and pass a portion of the year somewhere to the southward, but there are no regular observations on the point. I was not able to ascertain what kind of food was available for the birds at the time I was there: all the birds examined had nothing but a brown slime in them as food.

Shags were often seen flying by or sitting quietly on the rocks. On our first walk along the coast to the south we came on a breeding-place where there were numbers of all ages, and by carefully crawling up the rocks we managed to secure three specimens by hand. On sending down a man the next day to procure some more he found them much more wary, and had to shoot those he required. The species is one common to the islands to the south of New Zealand (Phalacro corax carunculatus). Some distance to the north of the Lusitania hut there is a beautifully arranged breeding-place of this shag, with about thirty nests arranged in terraces on a huge rock, each nest being on a little pedestal, the accumulation of years.

Ossifraga gigantea.—The huge and ungainly “nelly,” handsome and even noble when wheeling round and round in the air, is on the land but a lumbering robber, and usually to be found skulking around the breeding-places, trying to pick up a young penguin or wood-hen. The breeding-places are upon the bleak moorlands on the top of the island. In one that I saw there were about fifteen or twenty young birds almost ready to fly, and out of the hundred or more birds in the breeding-place there must have been at least a dozen pure or partial albinoes. The whole surface of the island is covered with the bones of small Prions, swallowed and then ejected by these giant petrels.

Ocydromus.—Some years ago Mr. Elder turned out some Maori-hens from New Zealand, and these have increased and multiplied in a most extraordinary way. On any part of the coast (with the exception of the extreme north) they may be seen feeding on the small crustacea and mollusca amongst the kelp. They might well be called kelp-hens, as their colouring is so assimilated to the shades of brown taken by the wet and dry kelp that it is only when they are moving or are on the shingle that they can be distinguished. It was a very easy matter to knock over with stones enough of these birds to make a most excellent stew, and no fear need ever be entertained of any castaways or inhabitants starving on Macquarie Island, as these birds alone would be quite sufficient to provide plenty of nourishment. They are just as inquisitive

as on the mainland, and several were killed under our beds, having come into the house when the door was left open. Whilst mentioning food-supplies I may say that rabbits are fairly numerous in the south-east; they have disappeared from the north owing to the wild cats, which are very numerous and of great size.

Another important food-supply is derived from the mutton-birds, probably two species. These were seen at sea, but they had not commenced to lay at the time we left, although daily expected. They must be very numerous, to judge by the burrows on the hills. A little dove-petrel (Prion banksii) flies to sea at night-time, and is much persecuted by the Ossifraga and the Lestris.

Larus dominicanus.—The black-backed gull was fairly plentiful at the time of our visit, and also the small terns, Sterna frontalis and Sterna antarctica. The latter was only seen at the northern end of the island.

Professor Scott, in 1880, included in his list a green parrakeet, which at that time was plentiful all over the island, and nested in the vegetation covering the large rocks on the beach. I had also heard from a man who had been working on the island some years later that they were plentiful along the seashore near the isthmus at the north end. We took down some cages to bring back some of these, but our utmost endeavours failed to procure or even see a single specimen. The party at present on the island have not seen any during the two years they have been there. One of them told me that he had seen a large flock of them fly away northwards when he was on the island about four years ago. It seems pretty certain that these birds have either migrated or have been exterminated by the wild cats which have spread over the island within the last few years. The migration theory is scarcely likely, as all accounts represent the parrakeets as having lost by disuse the power of sustained flight. On-the other hand, the birds seem to have disappeared from all parts of the island, whereas the cats do not seem to have reached the south at present. The parrakeets are said to have frequented the heaps of seaweed on the seashore in search of the crustaceans and other small forms of animal life. The loss of this bird is much to be regretted, as we can hardly doubt that it would prove to be a local race corresponding to the forms found on the Antipodes and the other groups of southern islands. There is no specimen of this bird in the Otago Museum.

Of Rallus macquariensis^* Professor Scott says, “Not

at all uncommon. There seemed to be two varieties: one, slightly the larger, was reddish in colour; the other was black.” This bird is considered by Sir Walter Buller to be a local variety of R. philippensis, and I wished very much to procure specimens of the two kinds mentioned in the above quotation. Not a sign of either was seen by us, and I could not hear from any of the party on the island that any had been seen.

Professor Scott mentions that teal were occasionally seen on the lakes. I could not hear that any had been killed, but I saw the common grey duck (A. superciliosa) on the coast, and on some small inland lakes. These birds have a very wide range, but I do not think they have been reported from Macquarie Island before.

Most of my notes were made at Lusitania; but I was on the North Head for a few hours on the day we left, and there I noticed, on a bare wind-swept surface of clay, great quantities of rounded stones exactly like the moa gizzard-stones found in New Zealand, but smaller. These have probably accumulated in the course of time from the birds destroyed by the skuas and nellies, the remains of which are found all over the surface of the island, ejected by these offal-feeders. At the narrow neck of land connecting the North Head with the mainland I saw a large heap of the bones of the sea-elephants, which had been gathered together with a view of taking them to New Zealand for bone-crushing. Near the heap was a stretch of shifting sand, which revealed evidence that this was the site of the large rookery of king penguins seen here by Bennett in 1815, since entirely destroyed. Amongst the bones I found two perfect skulls of a very large species of albatros. These I specially valued, as we were unable to verify the statement that a species of albatros breeds on Macquarie Island, or to say what the species was. The skulls, together with a valuable collection of other specimens, were swept overboard on our homeward passage.

Of the mutton-birds frequenting the islands, one species, which we only saw on the wing whilst off the island, seemed to be new.

The list of birds will stand somewhat as follows:—

• Platycerus. Probably extinct.

• Larus dominicanus.

• Sterorarius antarcticus (skua gull).

• Sterna antartica.

• Sterna frontalis.

• Rallus macquariensis = R. philippensis. Not seen or heard of.

• Ocydromus. Introduced.

• Phalacrocorax carunculatus

• Diomedea … (?)

• Prion turtur.

• Prion banksii.

• Prion vittatus.

• Æstrelata …

• Ossifraga gigantea.

• Puffinus …(?)

• Puffinus … (?)

• Garrodia nereis.

• Fregetta melanogaster. (?)

• Anas superciliosa.

• Eudyptes chrysocomus (victoria penguin).

• Eudyptes schlegeli (royal penguin).

• Pygoscelis taniatus (rock-hopper).

• Aptenodytes longirostris (king penguin).

As I mentioned at the commencement of my paper, the object of our visit was to obtain good specimens of the skeleton of the adult male sea-elephant—Morunga elephantina (Macrorhinus leoninus). The season at which we went was not a favourable one for the purpose, as the only specimens we saw were on the wild west coast of the island. Taking advantage of a fine but cold day (the average temperature during our stay on the island, taken at 9 a.m., was 50°) we crossed in a south-west direction to the west coast, and, after struggling over the bare and bleak hill-tops against the icy blasts from the antarctic, we descended to a sheltered bay, and here we saw several of the huge monsters among the large tussocks some little distance from the stony beach. Each animal had formed a kind of wallow in the wet swampy ground, and seemed to be passing the time in sleep until the old coat had fallen offen and a new fur had grown. All seemed fat and quite happy. One old gentleman remained whilst I took several photographs of him at a distance of a few feet, and, as I was anxious to get a photograph of the distended nose, which is so remarkable, we pelted him with stones until he raised up his head, inflated his nostrils, and roared. Unfortunately the photographs were not very successful, but, as the aspect of this curious inflation is of some interest, I have given an outline drawn from the life and from a photograph taken at the same time (Plate L.). After some further teasing the old fellow went down to the sea with an awkward-looking but rapid motion. Two other specimens at the other end of the beach were sketched, and then driven out to sea. One of them, strange to say, reared up and roared, taking exactly the form given in the old voyagers plate, which apparently looks so absurd and impossible.^* Once in the water they went out to

sea through the kelp like torpedo-boats. Many of those we saw had scars and recently-healed wounds, and when Mr. Jennings and the rest of the party were killing and preparing the skeleton further up the west coast some males were seen in the water fighting desperately, rising straight up in the water, throwing their huge bulk against each other, and tearing great strips of skin with their tusks. Mr. Jennings selected four of the finest specimens, apparently adults, and, after shooting them with a carbine, found that the skins were in too poor a condition to be of any use for specimen purposes. He therefore, with very great labour, and under very great hardships from the want of sufficient food and proper shelter at night, stripped the flesh of all four elephants from the bones, and carefully prepared the bones for transportation across the island to a place called South-east Harbour. With the assistance of one of the men on the island he succeeded in carrying across the four miles of most difficult country the heads of the four specimens and the complete skeleton of the smallest of the four, together with some of the most important of the small bones of the remainder. It was found impossible to bring over the remainder at that time. Mr. Jennings carefully examined the intestines and stomach, but could find nothing but a brown slime—possibly the remains of kelp. The ground in the neighbourhood of the bodies was saturated with blood, and the skuas and nellies gorged themselves to repletion. Although the specimens selected for slaughter appeared fully adult, it was found, when the skulls were finally cleaned, that very few sutures had closed, and that they must remain open for a longtime after the animals are apparently full-grown, all of the four killed measuring over 20ft. in length. I also noticed that in the huge heap of bones at the north end all the bones appeared to be of immature individuals. It is to be regretted that, owing to a series of misfortunes, only one of the skeletons should up to the present have reached Dunedin —-and that one slightly imperfect—as the work of preparing the skeletons was performed under the most trying circumstances, and involved a great amount of work.

I was unable to accompany the party who went for the sea-elephants, as I had to remain at Lusitania. Along the coast-line I collected several skeletons, more or less perfect, of very young sea-elephants, about 8ft. long. I had one adventure with a female sea-elephant, the only one seen during our visit. I came on it one morning on the upper part of the beach, but was unable to kill it, as it escaped to the sea badly wounded. It was about 9ft. long, and had a beautiful lightbrown coat, much more attractive than the mangy-looking coats of the males. Professor Scott records that they calve after October. Judging by the remains of skeletons on the various

beaches, the only other seal that is at all plentiful here is the sea-leopard seal (Stenorhynchus leptonyx). I believe that the time at which we were on the island is one at which both sealeopards and sea-elephants are generally absent. I saw several of the fore-flappers of this seal pickled for eating. They are said to be very good, but we were not there long enough to come down as far as that. The sea-elephants are said to be much scarcer than formerly, and they do not range much to the northward at the present time, although there is a skull of a very aged individual in the Otago Museum, found at Oamaru, and one in the Colonial Museum at Wellington, found near Castle Point.

Fishes.—In the tidal pools at low water some small gobies were found, which have not yet been examined critically, but I think one of the two species is Harpagifer bispinis, also found at Kerguelen. A good-sized fish was obtained by fishing with a hook from one of the rocks, and specimens were preserved, but have not come to hand; and two small specimens were picked up on the beach of a small sprat-like fish. The terns and gulls were seen one day pursuing and diving into a shoal of fish passing along the coast with the strong current to the north-east.

Mollusca.—The rocks exposed by the tides at Lusitania Bay are not very extensive, and are much swept by the shingle, so that the area is not a good collecting-ground for invertebrates. Between South-east Harbour and the Nuggets I saw a large area of exposed flat reef which I had not time to explore. The most attractive shell is a bright scarlet bivalve which attaches itself to the bright-green Ulva in the rock-pools and to the kelp in the deeper water. It is very plentiful, and I think it is Lasea rubra, or a Kellia. There has not yet been time to get the few species examined, but they will be worked up later on. A careful search for land or fresh-water mollusca resulted in the finding of only one species, which Mr. Suter refers to Laoma campbellica, Filhol (No. 139, 1880), a species already known from Campbell Island. It is a minute species, and occurs plentifully in the decayed vegetation everywhere. I was much disappointed in not finding any freshwater mollusca.

Three species of spiders were found under the leaves of the Stilbocarpa, and a few small flies were caught in the same situation, one being apterous.

I also collected some earthworms, which have, I believe, been sent Home for examination. The ponds and tidal pools were infested with small white worms, and a small black marine planarian was common. Some starfish, echinoderms and holothurians, were also collected, but have not yet been identified.

Mr. G. M. Thomson has kindly examined the crustaceans collected, and has written a note for this volume of the Transactions.^*

On the 22nd of March I walked along the coast-line from Lusitania Bay to the Nuggets, and saw a number of most interesting rookeries of the royal and victoria penguins, and some very romantic rock-scenery. The next morning, as I was commencing to examine the north end of the island, the wind changed and began to blow furiously from the northeast, and snow fell, and it was with some difficulty and danger that we were taken off from the beach to the ship. I was knocked down by the surf whilst getting into the boat, and got very wet. The weather, instead of moderating, became so bad that, without being able to communicate with the island again or to take our goods or specimens on board, the captain had to run for the Bluff without waiting to complete his cargo.

On the morning of the 26th (Easter Monday), while running before wind and sea, a very heavy sea broke on board and swept the decks, washing overboard a large surf-boat and the ship's quarter-boat with davits, the cook's galley, with the cook and a young Maori boy in it, and one of the watch on deck. The heavy sea running rendered it impossible to do anything to try to save the men: nothing was ever seen of either men or wreckage. The log recorded a calm at 4 a.m., and at the time the wave came, about 8.30, the barometer was down to 28–15°. There was comparatively little wind till the barometer began to rise, which it did at the rate of about 0–1 an hour. The wind was from E. to S.W. and S. After this we had a fairly good passage, and landed at the Bluff on the 31st of March.

We had to leave the island with just the clothes we wore, and leave everything on the island that we had collected. Some of our things were brought up on the next trip of the boat, but, as might be expected, a number of valuable specimens were ruined, and others never reached us. My photographs and apparatus were brought safely, but, as I said above, the photographs were not satisfactory as works of art. They, however, are of interest as showing several points with greater accuracy than any drawing could do.

I have to thank Professor Parker, the Curator of the Otago University Museum, for the permission to use the specimens collected for the purposes of my paper, and Mr. Jennings, the taxidermist to the Museum, whose kindness to me during my illness on the voyage both down to the island and back to the Bluff I can never forget.

differentiated in the island-groups until the New-Zealander cannot understand the Tongan, nor the Samoan the Tahitian, —whose customs, religions, tattooing, all have become distinct, —still hand down the same legends almost word for word; unchanged by the passing of many centuries. These stories have in most cases been preserved by religious influences, the traditions relating mainly to gods and heroes round whom was wrapped much of awe and mystery. In New Zealand the priestly incantations and legends were perpetuated with a very lively sense of the deadly consequences of error and the fear of offending celestial persons whose resentment would be aroused by a careless slip or want of reverential attention. Years were spent in arduous training and in discipleship to learned teachers, and no innovation was possible in the authorized version recited in the presence of fiercely-critical elders. This short preamble may not be considered unnecessary as explaining why these legends are not to be looked on in the same light as mere tales of fiction invented at the present day to pass an idle hour. They are in many cases the heir-looms from an incalculably remote antiquity—a time, in my opinion, far antecedent to that covered by any historical period or literary record. Of course they are not all of equal value: some are corrupt, and others have been related by partially-uninstructed persons; but by the student of mythology and folklore points are to be perceived that tell of age and authenticity by subtle processes that the surface observer is not able to appreciate, just as to the eye of the naturalist important differences of allied species are apparent that the untrained by-stander would not only pass over, but might, with self-sufficiency, refuse to believe exist. They do exist, however, and in a similar manner intrinsic evidence of high antiquity is often presented to the trained student of mythology.

Concerning the deluge, I shall not in this paper dwell upon the many legends. They are to be found all over the world, and perhaps in no finer or more original manner than in the Polynesian hymns and traditions. To compare the allusions recorded by different ancient peoples would make a paper of exceeding length, and I trust that at some future time I shall be enabled to compile the different accounts, and show that they are of great (sometimes local) interest, even in regard to scientific points which are mere details of the stories. For the present I shall touch on a class of the traditions which seem to prove that, in some manner to us incomprehensible, the deluge of water was preceded or accompanied by another great catastrophe—namely, that of a terrible conflagration. The Hebrew account gives no hint of this, nor does the Chaldean, except perhaps by obscure references. It is only through the legendary statement of primitive peoples

widely separated that we acquire the idea that the memories of many scattered tribes have preserved the recollection of some terrible event in the far-off past, having a destructive fire for its source of terror, as it ravaged the inhabited lands. Hesiod tells us the story of the strife between Jove and Typhoeus, and describes the coming of the fiery spirit:—

“Beneath'his [Jove's] immortal feet vast Olympus trembled as the king arose and earth groaned beneath. And the heat from both caught the dark-coloured sea, both of the thunder and the lightning and fire from the monster. And all earth, heavens, and sea were boiling, and huge billows roared round the shores…. So, I wot, was earth melted in the glare of burning fire.”^*

This tale, of course, might be thought to be a mere poetic fancy as to the conflict of the good and evil powers, but the references come with singular coincidence from far-distant places.

The legend of the British Druids records the double deluge of fire and water: “The profligacy of mankind had provoked the great Supreme to send a pestilential wind upon the earth…. At this time the patriarch, distinguished for his integrity, was shut up, together with his select company, in the enclosure with the strong door. Here the just ones were safe from injury. Presently a tempest of fire arose. It split the earth asunder to the great deep. The Lake Llion burst its bounds, and the waves of the sea lifted up themselves on high around the borders of Britain; the rain poured down from heaven, and the waters covered the earth.”^†

Here we have a distinct account that the deluge of rain succeeded the tempest of fire. If we turn to the Norse mythology we find in the Voluspa, as it appears in the elder Edda, a description of the time when the conflict was taking place between Odin and Surt, just as we saw in the Greek the battle between Jove and Typhoeus.

Surt from the South comes
With flickering flame.
* * * *
Then arises
Hlin's second grief,
When Odin goes
With the wolf to fight,
And the bright slayer
Of Beli with Surt.
* * * *
The sun darkens,
Earth in ocean sinks,
Fall from heaven
The bright stars.

Fire's breath assails
The all-nourishing tree.^*
Towering fire plays
Against heaven itself.
She^† sees arise
A second time
Earth from ocean,
Beauteously green,
Waterfalls descending.^‡

The younger Edda also in its version speaks of Heimdal's fight with Loki (a variant of the other tale), and says, “Thereupon Surt flings fire over the earth, and burns up all the world.” A man named Lifthraser and a woman named Life were preserved from the effects of the conflagration by being hidden in Hodmimer's hold, and “from these are the races descended.” In the dialogues of Plato^§ we find that the Greek lawgiver Solon was told by the priest of Sais in Egypt, six hundred years before Christ, that the deluge of Deucalion and the earth being burnt up by the fall of Phaethon from the chariot of the sun related to actual events. He said,” This has the form of a myth, but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving around the earth and in the heavens, and a great conflagration of things upon the earth.” Let us turn from these European stories—Keltic, Greek, and Norse—to the narratives of simpler peoples. The Chinese have a triad of gods named Yu, Yih, and Tseih. The deluge was covering the whole earth, when its course was stayed by Yu opening up nine channels for the water, while Yih opened up the forests with fire. So in the Mahabharata, the great epic of India, there is a description of Aurva the Rishi, who produced from his thigh a devouring fire, which cried out with a loud voice, “I am hungry; let me consume the world.” The various regions were soon in flames, when Brahma interfered to save his creation, and gave Aurva an abode under the ocean, where he dwells as the submarine fire.^‖ If now we leave Europe and Asia, and journey to South America, again the legend appears. The Tupi Indians of Brazil tell us the following:” Monau, without beginning or end, author of all that is, seeing the ingratitude of men, and their contempt of him who had made them joyous, withdrew from them, and sent upon them tata, the divine fire, which burned all that was upon the surface of the earth. He swept about the fire in such a way that in places he raised mountains and in others dug valleys. Of all men alone, Irin Magé was saved, whom

Monau carried into the heaven. He, seeing all things destroyed, spoke thus to Monau: ‘Wilt thou also destroy the heavens and their garniture? Alas! henceforth where will be our home? Why should I live, since there is none other of my kind?' Then Monau was so filled with pity that he poured a deluging rain upon the earth, which quenched the fire, and flowed on all sides, forming the ocean, which we call parana, the great water.”^* If we travel from Brazil thousands of miles north to the tribes of British Columbia, the Tacullies, they inform us that when the earth had been made, and “became afterwards peopled in every part, it remained until a fierce fire of several days' duration swept over it, destroying all life with two exceptions. One man and one woman hid themselves in a deep cave in the heart of a mountain, and from these two the world has since been re-peopled.”^† The natives in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe ascribe its origin to a great natural convulsion. There was a time, they say, when their tribe possessed the whole earth, and were strong, numerous, and rich; but a day came when a people rose up stronger than they, and defeated and enslaved them.” Afterwards the Great Spirit sent an immense wave across the continent from the sea, and this wave engulfed both the oppressors and the oppressed, all but a very small remnant, Then the taskmasters made the remaining people raise up a great temple so that they of the ruling caste should have a refuge in case of another flood…. Half a moon had not elapsed, however, before the earth was again troubled, this time with strong convulsions and thunderings, upon which the masters took refuge in their great tower, closing the people out. The poor slaves fled to the Humboldt River, and, getting into canoes, paddled for life from the awful sight behind them, for the land was tossing like a troubled sea, and casting up fire, smoke, and ashes. The flames went up to the very heavens, and melted many stars, so that they rained down in molten metal on the earth, forming the ore that white men seek.”^‡ The Indians of Utah and California have legends of a time when the sun-god came too near the earth, and scorched the people with his fierce heat. The god Tawats determined to deliver humanity from this great trouble, so he came to” the brink of the earth, and there watched long and patiently, till at last, the sun-god coming out, he shot an arrow at his face. The fierce heat consumed the arrow ere it had finished its intended course; then another arrow was sped, but that also was consumed; and another, and still another,

till only one remained in his quiver: but this was the magical arrow that had never failed its mark. Tawats, holding it in his hands, lifted the barb to his eye and baptised it in a divine tear. Then the arrow sped and struck the sun-god full in the face, and the sun was shivered into a thousand fragments, which fell to the earth, causing a general conflagration. [Here perhaps I may be allowed to call attention to the exquisite beauty of this poetical idea in the mind of a savage—the arrow of deliverance was powerless till touched with the tear of divine pity.] Then Tawats, the hare-god, fled before the destruction he had wrought, and as he fled the burning earth consumed his feet, consumed his body, consumed his hands, and his arms. All were consumed but the head alone, which bowled across valleys and over mountains, fleeing destruction from the burning earth, until at last, swollen with heat, the eyes of the god burst, and the tears gushed forth in a flood which spread over the earth and extinguished the fire.”^* In this story we have again the deluge of waters succeeding the great fire and extinguishing it. The Yurucares of the Bolivian Cordilleras and the Mbocobi of Paraguay all attribute the destruction of the world to a great conflagration which swept over the earth, consuming everything living except a few who took refuge in a deep cave.^†

These tales, with all their wonderful series of coincidences, would have little except general interest for us were it not for the fact that the “fire and water” legends of disaster are repeated very clearly in New Zealand and in the islands of Polynesia. The most purely mythical versions are connected with the great hero Maui, and his feats for the benefit of mankind. He was desirous of obtaining the boon of fire for the use of the human race, so he went to his divine ancestress, the goddess of fire, Mahuika, to procure it.^‡ It is unnecessary to repeat the whole of the tradition, which can be found in Grey's “Polynesian Mythology,” White's “Ancient History of the Maori,” and several other books,^§ but the end of the legend deserves special notice. After Maui had obtained by artifice all the fire in the possession of the goddess, she became enraged and pursued him. “Then out she pulled the one toe-nail that she had left, and it too became fire, and as she dashed it down on the ground the whole place caught fire. And Maui ran off and made a rush to escape, but the fire followed hard

after him, close behind him; so he changed himself into a fleet-winged eagle, and flew with rapid flight, but the fire pursued and almost caught him as he flew. Then the eagle dashed down into a pool of water; but when he got into the water he found that almost boiling. The forests just then caught fire, so that he could not alight anywhere, and the earth and the sea both caught fire too, and Maui was very near perishing in the flames. Then he called on his ancestors Tawhiri-ma-tea and Whaitiri-matakataka to send down an abundant supply of water, and he cried aloud, ‘Oh, let water be given to me to quench this fire that pursues after me,’ and lo, there appeared squalls and gales, and Tawhiri-ma-tea sent heavy lasting rain, and the fire was quenched; and before Mahuika could reach her place of shelter she almost perished in the rain, and her shrieks and screams became as loud as those of Maui had been when he was pursued by the fire: thus Maui ended this proceeding. So was extinguished the fire of Mahuika, the goddess of fire.”^* Here we have plainly the story of the earth being swept by fire and the forests consumed, followed by a deluge of water which. extinguished the flames. This is the North Island legend; but the South Island priests of the Ngaitahu say, when speaking of the deluge, that at the same time was “the fire of destruction.” ^† Colenso gathered, half a century ago, information from old chiefs, one of whom (from the East Coast, North Island) said, “Anciently the land was burnt up by the fire of Tamatea,” when all things perished. Another, a chief of the Ngatiporou, of the East Cape, said that “all the moas perished in the fire of Tamatea.” ^‡ Now, as we know that the moa (if by “moa” is meant the Dinoris, which I doubt) did not perish by fire, the inference is that this “fire of Tamatea” was probably a legend brought with them from afar, and localized. I have just recovered an interesting legend not yet published. It is as follows:” The descendants of Tarangata were the parents of Fire. He conceived the idea that he was destined to become the conqueror of the world. He protruded his tongue to lick up Water, thinking he could consume it all. Then came forth the great Wave to do battle with him. The one shot forth his tongue, the other did the same on his part. Aha! The name of the battle was Kaukau-a-wai. Then, then indeed was the power of Water exhibited. Aha! This was the defeat of Fire. It flew; it retreated; it was conquered

by Water. Before all was over, however, everything on earth had melted.” The story of Maui having procured fire from celestial sources, and in doing so setting the world in flames, is the most widely distributed of all the Polynesian legends. The Mangaian (Cook Islands) version says that Maui resolved to be revenged for his trouble by setting fire to his fallen adversary's abode. In a short time all the nether world was in flames, which consumed the fire-god and all he possessed. Even the rocks cracked and split with the heat: hence the ancient saying, “The rocks at Orovaru are burning,” equivalent to saying, “The foundations of the earth are on fire.”^* In Hawaii (Sandwich Islands) was preserved a distinct tradition that, on account of the wickedness of the people then living, the god Tane destroyed the world by fire, and afterwards organized it as it is now, the first man of the new race being called Wela-ahi-lani (Burning fire of heaven). ^† They have also a distinct tradition of the watery deluge.

Before leaving Polynesia, we may also notice that the Maoris speak of the deluge as “the overturning of the world.” So the Ngaitahu relate that “Puta was the cause of the land being turned upside down,”^‡ and the flood spoken of in the legend of Tawhaki, when the earth was overwhelmed with the waters, is called “the overturning by Mataaho.”^§ Now, the Greenlanders have the same expression as this. They are very much afraid of certain spirits called Inguersoit, who are supposed to be the souls of those people that died when “the world was turned upside down” in the days of the deluge. They are thought to have become flames of fire, and to have found shelter in the clefts of the rocks.^‖

Having thus collected a certain number of facts as material for reasoning upon, let us consider if they contain any material worthy of study. Of course, when I speak of facts I do not allude to the substance of the stories as being facts, but to the convergence of certain lines of tradition. The first point to consider is the truthfulness of the idea contained in the old legends. Are they sheer, profitless lies, or are they merely veils for the truth? That they are lies, in the sense of being made with the intention to deceive, I do not think possible. The field for lying is so vast and originality so rare that I do not think it reasonable to suppose that pure false-

hoods with identical incidents would have sprung up in a hundred different places, and continue to agree with each other in their repetitions over vast spaces of time. The next hypothesis is that they are religious parables. It will be found that in almost all tales of the great ancient catastrophe, whether of fire or water, the notion of its having been a punishment for human sin is very prominent. Not only in the Biblical account, but in heathen traditions, it is said that men grew evil. Thus, in the Teutonic legend, that of the Scandinavian Voluspa which I before quoted, we find that before the earth was burned, and before its re-emergence from the waters, the time was one of brothers fighting against each other, cruelty and luxury reigning. “The age of axes, the age of lances, in which bucklers are cleft,… the age of ‘north winds,’ the age of fierce beasts, succeeds before the world falls to pieces…. Not one dreams of sparing his neighbour.” ^* The Druid tells us that it was “the profligacy of man” that provoked the deluge and the conflagration. The Maori says that before the deluge “Man had become very numerous on the earth. Evil prevailed everywhere.” The Hawaiian relates that the earth was destroyed by fire on account of the evil conduct of its inhabitants. The Brazilian describes “the ingratitude of men and their contempt for him who had made them.” The tale is everywhere the same: a few are hidden from the fire in a great cave, or escape in a canoe from the overwhelming flood, to become the parents of a new race. If we grant that the stories had a religious origin, that the flood and fire were believed to be sent as punishments for sin, we may then ask, In what way was the tradition transmitted? Was it originally a legend handed down through many centuries to the descendants of those who really experienced the calamity in a certain locality? If so, it must be of stupendous antiquity, since the story is the property of ancient Briton, Scandinavian, Greek, Hindustani, Chinese, North and South American Indians, and Polynesian. The children of that one primitive people which experienced the flood must have differentiated into all these extremely foreign tribes. A far more probable theory is that the story, the property of one people, has been diffused to the others by communication. This, too, would necessitate a great antiquity; but for such antiquity there is good evidence. The more study one gives to the races of men the more impressed the mind becomes with the necessity for great spaces of time in which the drama even of man's life on earth can be played. Long periods are necessary for even the most simple phases of human existence

to develope and play their part. I do not fear at the present day to shock the sensibilities of others by such a claim, for a champion of the orthodox, Professor Sayce, has stated that he considers that human beings have communicated with each other by means of articulate speech for at least forty thousand years. And this is a very mild estimate compared with what some anthropologists demand. If, then, we allow six thousand years for all recorded history (much even of that being mythical), we have behind, in the darkness of unrecorded ages, thirty – four thousand years of which we know absolutely nothing except geologically. Time is here for the growth and decadence of great peoples, for endless wanderings, tradings, wars, captivities, and, in fact, an infinite variety of circumstances before which the mind falters. It is quite possible, nay, even probable, that in that far-off unknown time there were means of communication as to language and tradition of which we now have no conception, and that legend and story may have passed from race to race during epochs since which the very configuration of the earth's surface has had time to change.

Thus, then, we have considered three theories for the origin of the “destruction” legend: that it was pure lying, evolved similarly in many places at once; that it was a religious story (record or parable) handed down from a people which differentiated into many alien races; or that it was a tale which, issuing from one source, flowed by intercommunication among people widely separated in regard to locality and ethnic character. There yet remains another explanation, which seems to me to be the most probable of all—viz., that it belongs to the class of legends named by Tylor “myths of observation.” These are mainly scientific discernments, distorted by imperfect observation, and affected by the primitive superstitions and dim perceptions of cause and effect which mark the simple mind of the barbarian. He sees, as the trained scientist sees, the facts of nature, and, unable to reason inductively, he deduces some false conclusion. He notices huge bones left uncovered by a landslip, or lying in a cave. Thence arises the idea that these are the bones of giants, and it is not long before around the incident are grouped all the accompaniments of myth—the war between the gods and giants, &c. The Siberians have often found bones, teeth, and other remains of mammoths partly exposed in river-banks or cliffs. They supposed, from seeing the remains thus half-buried in the ground, that these were the disjecta membra of some burrowing animal. The Chinese of the North call it fen-shu, the “digging-rat.” Soon arose legends of the creature's habits: the Yakuts and Tunguz have seen the earth heave and sink as a mammoth bored

underneath. In the Chinese Encyclopaedia of Kang-hi it is described as like “a” rat in shape, but as big as an elephant; it dwells in dark caverns, and shuns the light.” Rhinoceros horns brought to Europe by ancient travellers were supposed to be claws of griffins, those great four-footed birds with claws like lions, spoken of by Herodotus and Ctesias. The Siberians also think that the fossil horns of the rhinoceros are the claws of an enormous bird, and thence has grown a myth that monstrous birds in olden times fought with the ancestors of men. “One story tells how the country was wasted by one of them, till a wise man fixed a pointed iron spear on the top of a pine-tree, and the bird alighted there and skewered itself upon the lance.” ^* This legend is especially interesting, because it suggests the origin of some of our New Zealand stories concerning the great man-eating bird. The Rev. Mr. Stack relates a legend from the South Island, stating that a gigantic bird of prey had “built its nest on a spur of Mount Tarawera, and, darting down from thence, it seized and carried off men, women, and children, as food for itself and its young; for, though its wings made a loud noise as it flew through the air, it rushed with such rapidity upon its prey that none could escape from its talons. At length a brave man called Te Hau-o-Tawera came on a visit to the neighbourhood, and finding that the people were being destroyed, and that they were so paralysed with fear as to be incapable of adopting any means for their own protection, he volunteered to capture and kill this rapacious bird, provided they would do what he told them. This they willingly promised, and, having procured a quantity of manuka saplings, he went one night with fifty men to the foot of the hill, where there was a pool 60ft. in diameter. This he completely covered over with a network of saplings, and under this he placed fifty armed men armed with spears and thrusting-weapons, while he himself, as soon as it was light, went out to lure the pouakai from its nest. He did not go far before that destroyer espied him, and swooped down upon him. Hautere had now to run for his life, and just succeeded in reaching the shelter of the network when the bird pounced upon him, and, in its violent efforts to reach its prey, forced its legs through the meshes, and, becoming entangled, the fifty men plunged their spears into its body, and, after a desperate encounter, succeeded in killing it.”^† White also relates that the fairy people, the Nuku-mai-tore, were greatly troubled by the visits of a huge flesh-eating bird. It was killed by the hero Pungarehu;

and they found round the cave in which the creature had lived bones of human beings strewn about.^* Now, it is exceedingly probable that the Maoris, seeing the huge bones of the Dinoris lying on the surface, as we even now find them (when uncovered?), constructed on the immensity of the remains a myth about a monstrous man-eating bird, unaware that the Dinornis was wingless. It is improbable that the remains of Harpagornis, comparatively scarce and unremarkable, should have suggested the myth. In the ancient world the discovery of fossil bones often either originated or became the illustrations of myth, just as Marcus Scaurus brought to Rome from Joppa the bones of the monster prevented by Perseus from devouring Andromeda, and as the rib-bone of the whale still preserved in St. Mary Redcliffe Church is supposed to have belonged to the Dun Cow slain by Guy, Earl of Warwick. Numberless such instances could be cited if necessary.

On the other hand, there are myths of observation in which, probably, the legend is not so much an accretion to the natural fact as a slightly altered transmission of actual record. The savage tribes of Brazil tell of the Curupira, an enormous monkey, covered with long shaggy hair, and with a bright-red face. No such animal now inhabits Brazil; but geologists say that in the Post-pliocene period such a creature existed in that country, and may, possibly, have lived down to the time when man came into being. A tradition has been preserved by Father Charlevoix, ^† from North American sources, concerning a great elk. He says, “There is current also among the barbarians a pleasant enough tradition of a great elk, beside whom others seem but ants. He has, they say, legs so high that 8ft. of snow did not embarrass him, his skin is proof against all sorts of weapons, and he has a sort of arm which comes out of his shoulder, and which he uses as we do ours.” Mr. Tylor, speaking of this legend, says, “It is hard to imagine that anything but the actual sight of a live elephant can have given rise to this tradition. The suggestion that it might have been founded on the sight of a mammoth frozen with his flesh and skin, as they are found in Siberia, is not tenable, for the trunks and tails of these animals perish first, and are not preserved like the more solid parts; so that the Asiatic myths which have grown out of the finding of these frozen beasts know nothing of such appendages. Moreover, no savage who had never heard of the use of an elephant's trunk would imagine from a sight of the dead animal, even if its trunk were perfect, that its use

was to be compared with that of a man's arm.” I may add to Mr. Tylor's remark that “the beast with a hand” is a well-known ancient name for the elephant, and that in the island of Java (west portion, Sunda) the elephant is called “liman,” a word derived from lima, the common word for “hand” and “five” in Polynesia.

Thus, then, we have the myths of observation divided into two classes: one in which the natural object becomes suggestive and gathers myth—for instance, the discovery of large bones giving rise to the story that “there were giants in those days,” the war of the Titans, &c.; the other class is that wherein has perhaps been kept a dim record of events once observed, but which without the tradition would have been forgotten. If the stories both of the watery deluge and of the destructive fire are not religious dramas portraying the earthly punishment of the wicked, to which class of the myths of observation do they belong? I am strongly inclined to think that they do not belong to the series of tales which have preserved the memories of things which once existed, or circumstances that really happened. They are not like those legends in which is probably kept alive the memory of the elephant among American Indians or of the great anthropoid ape in Brazil. They are more likely to be partially-imperfect scientific observations. Thus: the savage sees, as we see, sea-shells on the top of a mountain, and he argues as we do, “This place was once covered with water.” But he does not go on, as the geologist does, gathering fact after fact, and deducing therefrom the knowledge that different portions of the earth's surface, now solid land, were once submerged, and have been upheaved. The untrained observer's imagination goes to work and pictures a sudden and dreadful catastrophe—in fact, a deluge. But what should such a deluge be for? What could such a drowning quantity of water have been needed for but to extinguish a world-destroying flame? Around him his watchful eye notices other rocks which have been subjected to the action of fire. This is not to be denied, for he can probably see in many places lava-flows actually in process of being converted into stone, and those who think that the uneducated mind is incapable of recognizing similar action in the plutonic rocks know little of the acute powers of reasoning (in some directions) possessed by primitive men. Here is the water-worn rock, so once there was a deluge; here is the fire-fused rock, so once there was a conflagration in which the whole earth was on fire. Given this idea, started in two or three places, however widely separated, and interchange of thought during the immense spaces of prehistoric time would well account for the dissemination of the myths.

I believe that the Maoris have many myths of observation

not of this kind, and to these I hope next year to call your attention; but the particular class of legends relating to the deluge has probably sprung from suggestions inspired by keen eyes and inquiring brains seeking to account for geological puzzles.

There is one thing which, it is only honest to say, troubles me and prevents my wholly accepting the “observation-myth” explanation. I cannot help thinking that at some exceedingly ancient date the world, or a large part of the then known world, was really visited by some great catastrophe. Major-General Schaw lately gave us his interesting paper on the Great Ice Age, ^* but neither in his paper nor, curiously enough, in the discussion that followed was mention made of the suddenness with which the climatic alteration was effected. The mammoths whose remains have been exhumed in thousands in Siberia were victims of some sudden calamity. In full vigour of life they were frozen up and preserved. So also with the vegetable remains now to be found in the polar regions. The stumps of magnolias, walnuts, limes, vines, and mimosas (which prove a luxuriant flora and almost tropical climate to have existed in Greenland and Spitzbergen) had not time to decompose and rot before the Terrible Age of the world set in.^† That the calamity was accompanied by great cold appears to be taught by one of the oldest religious books in the world, the Zend Avesta of the Parsis. In this book the first Fargard of the Vendidad describes the creation of the world by the great spirit Ahura Mazda; and the second Fargard speaks thus:” The Maker, Ahura Mazda, of high renown in the Airyana Vaego, by the good River Daitya, called together a meeting of the celestial gods…. And Ahura Mazda spoke unto Yima, saying, ‘O fair Yima, son of Vivan-ghat, upon the material world the fatal winters are going to fall that shall bring the fierce foul frost; upon the material world the fatal winters are going to fall that shall make snow-

certain words or phrases as being tapu, or “prohibited,” to the common or vernacular speech. We find it existing in modern tongues at the present day, and it takes form in two different ways. One is of interest grammatically: it consists of changing cases and numbers; the “tutoiment” the” thee-ing and thou-ing,” of French and German marking different address to inferiors and intimates. In German we have the ceremonious plural for singular in verbs. In English the third person is more ceremonious than the first, as when Mr. Jones writes that “Mr. Jones presents his compliments,” instead of “I present my compliments,” &c. The plural “we” for “I” of royalty and editors is also a ceremonial use of grammar; so is the use of a title instead of the second person, as “I hope that your Highness will come,” instead of “I hope that you will come.” The other line of ceremonial usage is a thousand times more interesting.it is the historical form of ceremonial speech. It is perhaps best illustrated by a well-known example, that of the superposition of Latin words, through Norman French, upon the Teutonic dialect of our ancestors. We are told that in many ways this was noticeable: thus, the poor Saxons who had to take care of animals for the lordly new-comers kept the old Saxon words cow, sheep, calf, deer, &c.; but the name of the cooked meats became Norman—beef, mutton, veal, venison, &c.—because the common people did not use these delicacies. For many generations Norman French was the Court language; and on the revival of classical learning at the time of the Renaissance the English tongue was still further enriched and added to by words of Latin derivation. This remains at the present moment the inflated and more stately form of our general speech. When Dr. Johnson corrected his sentence about a certain drama, “It has not wit enough to keep it sweet,” into “It has not sufficient vitality to preserve it from putrefaction,” he was merely changing from the short plain words of Saxon into the fuller Latin language of ceremony. This would have little scientific interest for us if we did not observe that herein is presered a historical record—-a record that, if all the documents in the world were burnt to-morrow, would assure the linguist that the English had once been conquered by a people speaking a Latin dialect. It is in this direction, and in this direction alone, that a study of a ceremonial language is of living interest; and it is in the hope of being able to trace some historical points, or to prove that there are no such historical points, that I venture to direct your attention to the ceremonial languages to be found southeast of the continent of Asia.

In Java we have a full language of ceremonial in actual use, and apparently of some antiquity; moreover, it proves,

exactly as the English proved, to be of historical interest. In Java three languages are spoken: the first is that of the common people; this may be considered as a dialect of the Malay, or perhaps the Malay may be considered a dialect of Javanese. It has many words not used by the Malays; but even these perhaps may be considered as relics of the original speech better preserved in Jave than in Malacca or the outlying islands of the Archipelago, for Java was the centre of a high civilization for several centuries. The great island abounds in ruined cities, whose magnificent architecture is in ruins, and sometimes overgrown with tropical verdure—-the home of the serpent and the wild beast. In those splendid temples were preached the great Indian religions of Brahma and Buddha till these went down before the all-conquering faith of Islam. The vulgar tongue bears internal evidence of these great waves of conquest, and the Sanscrit and Pali of India are mixed with the Moslem Arabic in the vernacular of the Javanese. The Second language is the Kawi, the priestly tongue in which all documents and poetry are written; it is a mixture of Javanese and Sanscrit. The third language is the Basa-Krama, words meaning “polite” (in contradistinction to the ngoko, or vernacular), but both are from Sanscrit, being krama, “order,” and bhasa,” language.” It appears to be a thoroughly made-up dialect, formed by taking words not in common use and engrafting foreign words so as to avoid familiar native expressions. Some of these are taken from Malay or Sundanese, some from Sanscrit, others by corrupting the words of the vernacular. But, despite of research, there is not the slightest internal proof that the ceremonial language is older than the vernacular: in fact, the reverse is the case. It is evident that the Sanscrit and Arabic are late arrivals embroidered on to the simple web of the native speech, just as Norman French was worked over Saxon English. Precisely, so far as we can learn, was this the case also in Bali and the other islands. The ceremonial languages are recent growths, products of civilization, probably due to conquest, or else from the acceptance of overwhelmingly dominant religions.

If we can show something of the kind in Samoa it will prove of great historical interest. If we can show that the Samoan ceremonial language consists even in part of foreign words, or of words not found in common use anywhere in Polynesia, we shall have made a distinct advance. For my own part, I regret to say that I can do no such thing—-that I do not perceive any indication whatever showing conquest or religious supremacy by a foreign power, and that therefore the inquiry is historically void. But it is not scientifically void if we can show the negative side, and prove that in this direction at least search is useless.

In the ceremonial language of the Samoans we have a word fofoga. A common man's eye is mata, a chief's eye is fofoga; a common man's nose is isu, a chief's nose is fofoga; a common man's mouth is gutu, a chief's mouth is (still) fofoga. This seems a rather inconvenient and indefinite style of address, unless we translate fofoga as feature, instead, of nose, mouth, &c. When an ordinary man bathes it is ta'ele; when a chief bathes it, is ‘au'au, to swim about, or fa'a-malu, to cool oneself. For the common word sau, to come, we have the respectful maliu-mai to a head-man, susu-mai to a great chief, afio-mai to the greatest chiefs. When a peasant eats it is ‘ai; when a chief eats it is taumafa. When a commoner coughs it is tale; when a chief coughs it is male. The oration of an ordinary person is lauga; a chief's address is afioga. The ordinary word for sickness is ma'i; the chief's word is gasegese, weariness. When a plebeian lies down it is taoto; when a chief lies down it is falafalana'i. Before a chief a thing is not “burnt” (susunu); it is fa'a-vela, “made warm.” The will or intention of a common man is loto; but a chief's will is finagalo. These may serve as sufficient to exemplify the subject.

There are three things to consider in analysing these chiefs' words: (1.) Are they foreign? (2.) Are they ancient? (3.) Do they stand in the same relation to Samoan as Basa-Krama does to Javanese, or Norman French did to English?

The answer is “No” to every one of these questions. As to their being foreign, although the etymology is, naturally enough, not clear at first sight, they are very certainly true Polynesian words, most of them true Samoan words. Taking the words which are not evidently Samoan, and “whose meanings are not mere evasions (such as gascgase, wearied, instead of ma'i, sick), we can trace them with ease. Fofoga, the chief's word for nose, eye, mouth, &c., is in the Tongan fofoga, the head or face applied to chiefs, and probably the Tahitian hohoa form, likeness. From the chiefs' words meaning “to come”—viz., maliu-mai, susu-mai, and afio-mai—we may eliminate the mai, as it only means “hither.” Maliu is a pure Polynesian word. It is found in Hawaiian—maliu, to attend to one, to listen to a request, to turn towards one and be gracious. Thus, maliu-mai means “be gracious hither,” a lofty-way of asking a chief to come. Susu is the Hawaiian hu, to come, to heave in sight, as a ship. Afio is a royal word in Tahiti; and in Maori means to wind round, to turn one thing round another, so that afio-mai is a form of “turn hither.” Taumafa, the chief's word “to eat,” is the Maori taumaha, a thank-offering to the gods, and the Tahitian taumaha, an offering of food to the gods. While the common man's cough is

paka Tribe, and taken by them to the village Te Hautotara, on the Upper Manawatu, where it remained quietly for a long time, the admiration and wonder of all beholders. Some years elapsed, and then it was borne in a litter by Ngatipakapaka to Porangahau, and transferred to Henare Matua; and some time after it was handed over by Henare. Matua to Te Harawira Tatere,^* who had it carried to his village at Waimarama (near Cape Kidnappers), where it also remained for a long time in his possession, until finally it was taken by him and his people to Napier, to be sawn, into slabs of proper thickness for the purpose of being afterwards cut up into fit portions for meres (or hand-clubs), after the fashion and taste of the Maoris, he, Te Harawira, having arranged with a white man in Napier to saw up the said block of greenstone for him; but from this time it became wholly lost to the Maori people.” (Thus far the written relation by the Maoris.)

In the year 1878 the said block of greenstone was brought by Te Harawira to Napier, he having arranged with a European named James Rolfe, residing there in Emerson Street, to cut it up for him. Some time after, I, on hearing of this work, visited Rolfe's workshop to see the operation, and found him and his wife closely engaged in carrying on the work. It was a small room; two or three small saws were in brisk movement, worked by steam; and, though I stayed some time, and closely watched their cutting, they seemed to lack power, so that when I left I could not but believe, at the rate; they were then going on, it would take a very long time to accomplish the intended work, their simple and almost improvised makeshift machinery wanting power.

In 1881 Rolfe, having some time before completed his task, and finding he could not get the owner and his friends to come to any satisfactory terms, brought the matter into Court before the Resident Magistrate; but on this occasion Rolfe was nonsuited, on the ground of insufficient evidence.

Two years after, in 1883, 19th February, the matter came again into Court this time into the District Court, before Judge Hardcastle, when Mr. Lascelles was the solicitor for Rolie, and Mr. Lee for Te Harawira.

Rolfe's amended claim (now) was for £190, for cutting up the said block of greenstone. In his statement he said that the block weighed about 3cwt.; that the agreement between himself and Te Harawira was for him to cut up the block into twelve cuts (or slabs), for which work £200 was to be paid by instalments. That on the next week Te Harawira called and

paid him £10, as the first instalment, but that nothing had been paid since. It took him two months to make the first trial cut, and nine months to make eleven cuts. That he had eleven saws at work at one time by steam-power, ten to fourteen hours a day. When the work was finished, and after much talk with Te Harawira and his friends, a compromise was offered of £100 to be paid to him, together with half of the greenstone, and to this he agreed; but, after long waiting, no money was forthcoming. He had also offered to take the stone (slabs) as payment for his heavy labour, but this was refused.

Mr. Cooper, a watchmaker and jeweller of Napier, stated that he was acquainted with similar work—the cutting-up of greenstones—and 1s. per square inch was the usual charge; and, speaking from memory, those cut slabs of greenstone would each average about 24in. × 15in.

Te Harawira (the defendant), in his evidence, stated positively that no final agreement as to price had ever been arranged, and that the charge for cutting was far too high.

Mr. Lee, for defendant, held that no contract had ever been made, and that the charge was excessive.

The Judge took time to consider his sentence, and on the next day judgment was given for £150, and costs £14 3s.^*

No money being forthcoming, in the following month (March) the bailiff took possession of the greenstone, under execution warrant of distress, and duly advertised for sale by auction on the 14th, at noon, “12 slabs greenstone; average weight 251b. each.”^†

I happened to be in town on that day, and in passing by the auction-mart, and seeing some acquaintances standing at the entrance, I went up to speak with them, and then, for the first time, saw the said twelve slabs of greenstone inside on a table. So I went in; and soon after the sale began, when I purchased five slabs, and should have bought more had not my acquaintances expressed their wishes to get some also. The whole lot only realized £20 10s.^‡

From which sum was deducted: Commission, £1 0s. 6d.; bailiff's charges, £3 13s.: leaving £15 16s. 6d. (From District Court records.) The slabs purchased by me are marked with a star.

Mr. William Broughton; from Renata's village at Omaahu, was present at the sale, and purchased: one of the slabs. At this time the Maori king, Tawhiao, had recently arrived at Omaahu from Wellington, via Waipawa; and I, who had long known Mr. Broughton, gave him one of the slabs I had just purchased as a present to the Maori king, Mr. Broughton taking it away with him in his dog-cart. I should mention that I had been invited by Renata to attend the public meeting and banquet given by him at Omaahu on the following day.

The next day I went to Omaahu. A pretty full description of what took place there, on that occasion was given in the Napier papers, from which I extract one sentence respecting the said slab of greenstone: “A big bell rang. Tawhiao came out of a large whare (Maori house), and was met by Renata, who, with a finished courtesy which, would have done no discredit to a European host, took him by the hand and led him to the seat of honour in the tent, before which stood a large slab of greenstone, a present from Mr. Colenso.”—(Hawke's Bay Herald, 16th March, 1883.)

Dinner over (which was a large one), “King” Tawhiao walked leisurely back to his tent and clan, carrying carefully his large greenstone prize closely laid across his breast. Kings, emperors, and mighty chiefs of other countries and peoples, both Christian and heathen, have often from time immemorial dined off gold plate, but I fancy no Maori chief before Tawhiao ever dined off a flat greenstone dish!—no doubt in his opinion, and in those of his ancestors, of far greater value than gold itself.

Subsequently I got three of them roughly polished on one side by our monumental stone- and marble-mason, Waterworth, who did not, however, readily undertake the work, as such a stone was well known to be very hard, and had not hitherto been worked by him.^* Two of those slabs I show here to you this night; one of them, also, being an outer slab of the original block, is peculiarly worn and irregularly rounded on the outside, somewhat resembling some of those big abnormal lumps and nodules of limestone and of flint (pot-stones) found in chalk at Home, and like them in having a thick white incrustation closely investing.

And so it was that on my again visiting Omaahu in September, at the funeral of Noa Huke (as mentioned by me in my “Introduction”), being also the first time since that other public visit of mine in 1883, the place, the greenstones, the circumstances past and present, the men (including the

Maori “king,” Noa Huke, Henare Matua, Renata Kawepo, Te Harawira, and others, chiefs of note, and prominent” speakers and actors on that former occasion—all now gone), afforded ample themes for reflection during my solitary long drive back to Napier in a cab, and in pouring rain.

The New Zealand greenstone, called generally by the Maoris pounamu, of Which, however, they have several varieties, each bearing its own proper name, has always been a prized article among them—indeed, of the highest value as a possession, as riches, as heirlooms, and as a commodity of barter. Many causes combined to make it such, principally its great usefulness among a people that knew not metals—whether manufactured as a weapon in war, as an implement' in house- and ship-building, or as an ornament of personal decoration for their chiefs, to which must also beadded. its rarity (as to habitat), only now found in one known locality in the South Island, from which place it could only be obtained by great perseverance and courage, combined with skill, labour, cunning, and peril. And then, above all, was the ancient superstitious belief that it was a living animal, ika=fish, that could only be secured through the due and unbroken observance of many peculiar and wonderful incantations, charms, and prayers; and, when so acquired, the patient persevering labour and skill requisite in cutting it up and fashioning it symmetrically and suitably for use was really marvellous. I will here give two (out of many) old Maori relations I possess respecting the present habitat and mode of capture of greenstone. My first was written more than fifty-five years ago, and published (with other curious items) in the “Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science,” vol. ii., in 1845 (my paper being dated January, 1843):—

“The wind being light, we had Tuhua, or Mayor Island, in sight. This island appears to be of volcanic origin, and abounds in pumice, obsidian, slag lava, pitchstone, and other vitreous and volcanic substances. I use the word ‘appear’ in consequence of a curious relation which some years ago I received from an old priest residing at Tauranga, in the Bay of Plenty. I had been inquiring of him the place where, and the manner how, they in former days obtained the green jade or axe-stone for ornaments and weapons of war. In answer to my inquiry he asserted that this stone was both a fish and a god;^* that it formerly lived at the Island of Tuhua, whither the priests (or tohungas=skilled men) of all the neighbouring tribes used to go to take it, which was done by diving, accompanied with several superstitious ceremonies in order to

appease its wrath, and to enable them to seize it without injury to themselves; but that suddenly it made the whole island, and the surrounding sea, its, cloaca maxima, covering every place thickly with excrementitious substances, which still remain, and swam away to the Middle Island of New Zealand, where it has ever since resided, and whence they have been obliged to obtain it. I scarcely need add that those ‘excrementitious substances.’ comprise the different volcanic matter with which the Island of Tuhua is now covered. Perhaps after-ages may verify the tradition related by the old priest, and bring to light the soi-disant god in a buried stratum of axe-stone” (l.c., p. 215).

My second was written by an intelligent aged Maori of Hawke's Bay several years ago, who had collected the information in answer to my inquiries; and, as it is peculiar, I shall also give the Maori verbatim, with my free English translation:—

“To Colenso: greetings. I now despatch [to you] the in formation respecting the pounamu. Te Akapikitia asserts that this thing, the pounamu, is really a fish. (But I say, How did it become petrified?) Better, perhaps, is the statement made by a certain man of the Ngatimarau family, who returned from that place. His name was Hanita te Maero: but he is dead.

“Now, this is his relation: Whenever a man residing there has a great desire to go [and take pounamu], he first says to his wife to pound some prepared fern-roots to carry with him as food for the long journey thither [over lands with no inhabitants]. In his sleep at night he dreams, and on awaking at daylight he relates his dream. Then he says to his wife to give to him the prepared lump of beaten fern-roots; and this is then carefully wrapped up in leaves of kawakawa and kokomuka shrubs.^* He then starts on his journey, first placing a succulent shoot of tutu^† in one ear, and of kokomuka in the other ear. And he travels until he reaches Poutini;^‡ there is Arahua, the water in which the pounamu, dwells. Then at the fit time he dives, and, lo! there it is found lying. He then fastens on to it a prepared noose rope, and it is forcibly dragged out by those waiting on the bank of the water, and it lies on the ground. Then it is carried away to the village and worked up at leisure. The pieces of greenstone that are collected, cut up, and used by Europeans are not the same kind as those found in the water, or below in the very bed or bottom of the water. These [of theirs] are very common

pieces, found scattered on the land in places where they have been heated and dried by the sun.

“Further, it is constantly asserted in the fabulous stories of the tribes of these parts that the greenstone is truly a fish. (But how did it become hardened—stonified?) That fish, the greenstone, is said to have come to this land from abroad [far off on the other side]. On its first coming hither it made Tuhua [island], when the dark rocky barriers of tuhua [obsidian] grinned fiercely in defiance, showing their teeth; so greenstone kept off, floating away at a distance, and not coming near the shore until it reached the open space between Whareama and Motuairaka^*—that is, to Takiritane. There also the teeth of those rocks showed themselves fiercely. Still floating away at a distance from land, it was finally drifted on shore at Kaikoura, where also is Poutini Arahua, the water in which lies this fish, the greenstone.

“Here is yet another relation [respecting it] by Himiona te Aka. When the men-workers of greenstone go thither, on arriving at the spot some remain on the shore [banks], and the man who has been prepared to dive goes [into the water], taking with him the end of the long rope, the other end being with the men on the bank. He dives and goes right down to shell-sand [to the beds of shell-fish], to the very bottom. He looks up above, lo! the greenstone pendent over and above him. Then he casts the rope prepared with a running knot,^† and it is secured, and then [the greenstone] is dragged out and lies on the bank of the water. It is carried off on [their] shoulders in a litter to the village, and worked up; and when finished [they] go to dispose of [their] riches. Here ends the information [I have received] concerning the greenstone.”

While the general meaning of these last-written communications may be understood by the English reader, there is much that remains unknown to him, partly owing to the different idiom, but mainly to the brief mention of, or merely allusions to, Maori matters, beliefs, customs, and habits, so well known to the Maoris themselves. And it would take some considerable time and much writing fully to explain all those allusions. Not unfrequently has a Maori relation of ancient doings, especially when containing brief notices or

remains of the ancient inhabitants, illustrating his letters with numerous sketches, some of which I reproduce as diagrams. The information given by Mr. White forms the substance of this paper.

I believe I am correct in saying that, although a large amount of information has been collected with reference to the ancient races of North America, very little is known of those of the southern continent, especially of the northern portion of these. Mr. White says they were apparently quite distinct from the Incas of Peru, the most northern limit of the latter being at Pasto, which is three hundred miles to the southward. They appear to have been quite distinct from the ancient tribes of North America. The evidences are abundant of a large population, and to some extent highly civilized, there being statues and monuments with curious hieroglyphics inscribed thereon. These, however, were doubtless the work of a race antecedent to those the subject of this paper, whose methods of burial and specimens of ceramic art are described by Mr. White.

The unsettled state of the country, the unstable government of these South American republics, together with an unhealthy climate, tend to preclude scientific exploration at present, and what little information is from time to time obtained is chiefly gained from men who search for the graves of these ancient people in order to secure the gold ornaments buried with them.

Mr. White states that apparently there formerly existed many tribes, speaking different languages, probably cannibals, and indulging in constant tribal wars. He has not seen evidences of the art of writing, and very little trace of religion, although it is certain they believed in a future state. Their implements were of stone; there is no trace of iron; copper was sparingly used in ornament, silver also sparingly, but gold was common both as ornaments and in a kind of armour. Their pottery varied greatly from common, poorly made, with stamped patterns, to finely-shaped and handsomely-painted specimens. There are also evidences of cotton having been used in the manufacture of cloth. From the different methods of disposing of their dead, it is quite evident that there were distinct races of men in successive periods inhabiting the continent.

The men who make it their business to search for these ancient graves, for the sake of the gold ornaments buried therein, usually, distinguish them under three headings, viz.: the “red Indian,” the “hunting. Indian,” and the “purple Indian.” Each of these had their own peculiar pottery, arms, and utensils, and the red and purple Indians differ also in the colour of the bones.

The red Indians were the tallest of the three; the skull was large and the leg-bones large and long; their implements roughly made, often merely chipped stones, mostly of phonolite or greenstone, flint being rarely used; their graves were mostly oblong holes, 15ft. to 20ft. deep, with niches at the sides to receive the bodies. Very few gold ornaments are found. The pottery is roughly made, neither glazed nor painted, and ornamented with lines and dots. The bones are usually stained red; hence their name.

The purple Indians, or Morado, were about 5ft. 8in. or 5ft. 10in. in height, the bones being bluish-grey in colour, although called purple. Their implements were of polished stone, well formed and polished. Buried with them are often large quantities of gold-ornaments. From one grave, of which a sectional drawing is given, as much as 121b. avoirdupois of gold was taken. The wife is usually found buried with the husband, and a slave or attendant (especially if there is a quantity of gold ornaments) is also found placed in a niche in the upper part of the shaft, as if on guard. Around the body are placed earthen vessels, doubtless to contain food, &c.; and at the head of each body are small effigies in clay. On the right of the man appear his arms and copper or gold ornaments. The passages leading to the vaults are often complicated; the shaft is from 25ft. to 60ft. deep, from the bottom of which the passage or tunnel, in a more or less tortuous direction, according to the rank of the dead, ends at length in a vaulted chamber. From the vault to a turn in the passage in a line with the shaft is usually a small hole pierced through the surrounding earth, evidently for ventilation. After the bodies were buried the entrance from the passage to the vault was barricaded with timber, and then the whole of the passages and shaft were filled in with earth, and so tightly rammed that the “grave-searchers” find it far easier work to sink a new shaft down on to the vault than to clean out the old one. They are enabled to do this, since by careful search the remains of a filled-in trench can be found, extending from the mouth of the shaft to a point vertical to the position of the vault. The trench has been so carefully filled in that both it and the shaft are extremely difficult to discover, and to be a successful grave-finder requires much practice and experience.

Among the favourite emblems on the pottery of the Morado race, were owls (most probably parrots), frogs, and lizards. In the grave (the subject of the sketch, Plate LI.), in addition to the gold before mentioned, were found two clay effigies, the face of the one representing the woman being much broader and larger than that of the man. There was also a clay seal, of the impression of which, a sketch is given. These seals are

really was—was strictly reserved for persons of importance, and the heads of the chiefs of the tribe, and occasionally those of their wives and children, were preserved as well as those of the chiefs of the enemy who were slain in battle. Mr. Marsden states that “it is gratifying to the vanquished to know that the heads of their chiefs are preserved by the enemy”; and the same authority relates the case of a chief's wife who had the head of her sister preserved and placed in an “ark” near her hut, “in order that she might relieve her feelings by weeping over it.” In fact, the curing of a head was an acknowledgment of the nobility of its original owner, and it is more than probable that many a young brave was supported under the pain of tattooing by the thought of the handsome and warlike appearance that it would give to his countenance whenever his head came to be preserved.

The principal object of the custom seems to have been to keep alive the memory of the dead; and the mokomokai, as they were called, supplied to a people ignorant of literature and the arts the place of statues and pictures and monumental records. In the case of the departed chief of a tribe they were a visible sign that in some mysterious way his presence still dwelt among his people, inciting them to emulate his virtues and to follow in his steps; while in that of the slaughtered warrior of the enemy they served to keep alive the memory of the injury received by the tribe in whose possession they remained, and were a constant challenge to revenge and retaliation.

As might be expected, the preserved heads were familiar objects about the old Maori pas. According to an interesting, account lately published by the Rev. G. Smales,^* those of the enemy were usually placed on the tops of the houses or on poles by the wayside, where they were exposed to the contemptuous taunts of the passers-by;^† while those of relatives and friends were carefully kept in some secluded spot protected by the strictest tapu, whence they were brought forth and exposed to public view on great occasions, as, e.g., the hahunga, a feast attending the ceremonial raising of a chief's bones, or the general gathering that took place on the eve of the departure of a war-expedition. The most important part which they played, however, was during the actual progress of the war, and in the negotiations respecting its continuance

or otherwise, when, as Polack^* aptly observes, and as will presently be explained, they were not only the “trophies of battle,” but the “oriflamme of either party,” by whom they were “preserved similar to the tattered rags that ornament the cathedrals of polished nations.”

In order to fully estimate the significance which attached to the various uses of these grim mementoes of departed grandeur it is necessary to understand something of the relations in which the chiefs stood towards their tribes. This may be roughly stated as very similar to that which existed in olden time between a Highland chieftain and his clan, and of which a shadow remains to the present day. Although there were often a number of minor chiefs scarcely inferior in rank, the position of the leading chief was distinct and supreme. He was the active intelligent representative head in whom was concentrated the strength and glory of the whole body of his people. He was their leader in war and their counsellor in time of peace. In all public matters his will was unquestioned, and on setting out on a fighting expedition his formal consecration by the tribal tohunga (priest) extended to the whole of his party. Any respect paid to the chief reflected honour upon the entire tribe; any insult must be wiped out if necessary by the blood of the whole body; and, conversely, an injury to the tribe was felt to be an injury to the chief, and must be noticed and avenged accordingly. Amongst his own people the person of the chief was enveloped in a peculiar sacredness (tapu), which extended to the most minute article of his belongings, but which was concentrated, so to speak, in his head, that part of the body being considered by the Maoris as the seat of honour and the home of all the virtues which the man possessed. To meddle with a chief's garments, weapons, or ornaments, or to eat the food prepared for him, was a grave offence, but to touch his head, although accidentally, or even to mention ti with disrespect, was a crime punishable with death.

In time of war the heads of the principal chiefs on either side formed the centre round which the whole business revolved. Whenever a chief fell within the lines of his own party, as Mr. Marsden was informed by Hongi and Te Morenga, the victors immediately demanded that the body be delivered to them, which was at once done if his people considered themselves unable to continue the fight. The head was then cut off, and all hostilities ceased, until, after an elaborate ceremony of “auguration,” the tohunga declared whether the combat should be renewed. The head was kept for the chief on whose account the war had been undertaken; and as soon as it could be conveniently done it was preserved and sent round

to all his friends and relations as a tangible evidence that justice had been satisfied, and the war brought to an honourable conclusion.

As a matter of course, so long as the heads remained in the possession of a victorious chief no amicable relations could exist between the rival tribes. Should he, however, desire to make peace, he took them and exhibited them to the conquered party; and if these cried aloud at the sight of them this was taken as a signal that they were willing to put an end to the contest, and were prepared to accept the terms, which might be offered; whereas if they kept silence it was understood that they were determined to hold their ground and risk the issue of another battle.^* Sometimes it was the desire of neither party to renew hostilities—generally, no doubt, when both sides were weakened by excessive loss of fighting-men and tired of the continued struggle, or perhaps when they were threatened by a common enemy. In this case it was not unusual for the heads to be purchased by the friends of the vanquished and returned to the surviving relations, who held them in the highest veneration.

As in primitive times war was the common pastime of the people, and disputes on a greater or lesser scale were of constant occurrence, the number of these preserved heads must have been very large. Mr. Marsden relates that on the return from one of Hongi's expeditions against the East Coast natives no less than seventy were brought to Rangihou in a single canoe. And it was no uncommon occurrence for the early missionaries, during the fighting season, which occupied several months of the year, to see the palisading of the adjacent pa, or sometimes the fence of their own compounds, ornamented with a row of these gruesome trophies.

As from a collector's point of view a preserved head formed a very desirable item in an assortment of foreign curios, attempts to secure, specimens were made from the very earliest period of our intercourse with the Maoris. For a long time, however, these attempts met with little success. Mr. Banks, the naturalist who accompanied Captain Cook's expedition, succeeded, after great difficulty, in purchasing one from the natives of Queen Charlotte Sound in 1770, but no inducement could prevail upon them to part with a second. And although Pomare, one of the principal chiefs of the Bay of Islands, and who was considered the most expert artist of his time in the preparation of heads, offered to show Mr. Marsden an example of his skill, and at the same time furnish him with some specimens if he would let him have some ammunition wherewith to shoot the people who had killed his son, his case seems to

and those numberless islets which lead to the gateways of the day. Rather let us believe that revelations await us in the buried records of the past, full of light on this portion of lost history, and that ours are but rediscoveries extending over the comparatively inconsiderable period of the last three hundred and fifty years. Be this as it may, it is certain that to this period our present inquiries must be limited, or, rather, to the still more limited period of two hundred and fifty years dating from Tasmart's discovery of New Zealand in 1642. Doubtless-before Tasman there were voyagers who had visited New Zealand, but of these we have no trade, or but the faintest. Soon after the great discovery of Columbus, adventurous Portuguese and Spanish poured into the Pacific seas. Their object was not to prosecute research, or even to gratify curiosity, but to amass wealth, and to annex distant lands to their own nationalities. Henca each maritime nation was jealous of its neighbour, and guarded its discoveries with every pare from prying curiosity. Hence it followed that published accounts of voyages were few: the journals were consigned to close keeping, and were only utilized as occasion arose. If published, it was not unusual to find latitudes and longitudes omitted in a way that must have been provoking to the rival sailor. Similarly there are old maps in existence, issued ar hundred years before Tastnan's time, of whose history we know but little, and of which, certainly so far, there exists no written or printed record. Thus we are justified, in thinking that there are buried in the old archives of Portugal and Spain journals which, if, found, would give an earlier account of New Zealand than those we consider our earliest. A search for such should be made, and doubtless would well repay the discovery. The iron-bound chests of Portugal and Spain are the probable repositories of these treasures; or these may have been emptied into the papal and monkish libraries upon whose shelves the contents are still resting, covered with the accumulated dust of ages. Sir James Hector, I understand, caused such inquiry to be instituted some years ago, but without result. A statement exists that, as far back as 1576, Juan Fernandez., a Spanish pilot, sailed W.S.W. from Chili for the space of a month, and that then he came upon a fertile and pleasant land, inhabited by light-eomplexioned people, who wore woven cloth, and who were exceedingly hospitable. From the course steered and the time occupied on the voyage it has been coneluded that this fertile land was New Zealand. So well pleased was Juan Fernandez with his visit and reception that on his return to Chili he made extended preparations for a further visit to this “fertile land.” His intention was cut short by death. Here is an instance in point where no

history remains. The little information we have is derived from a lengthy memorial presented thirty-five years later—that is, in 1610—to King Philip of Spain, by his dutiful subject Dr. Juan Luis Arias, who earnestly beseeches His Catholic Majesty to anticipate the English and Dutch by taking possession of the newly-discovered islands in the Pacific, and thus prevent the natives from becoming infected with the venomous heresy of those two nations. Possibly this slender and unsubstantial reference relates to New Zealand, and, if so, it is perhaps the first of which there is record. As it is evidently founded on a knowledge of Fernandez' voyage thirty-five years before, it is not unlikely that here is an example of unpublished manuscript for research to unearth. (Vide Dalrymple's Voyages, vol. i., p. 53; Burney's Voyages, vol. i., p. 300; and Hakluyt Society—Major's “Early Voyages,” p. 1.)

One other reference to unverified utterance I think it well to repeat, as it seems to have value. On p. 65, vol. iii., of the Proceedings of our Institute, is a paragraph, vague enough, wherein it is stated that the. Arabian geographers of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were acquainted with a large and mountainous country in the farthest southern ocean, uninhabited by man, and containing gigantic birds known as the “Seemoah.” The paragraph does not state by whom, in this uninhabited land, these gigantic birds were called “Seemoah,” but it proceeds to say that translations of these old Arabian geographers are to be found in the fine libraries of Paris and Vienna, I firmly believe that scientific, ardent, and well-endowed research applied to “Terra Australia Incognita,” using that term in a different sense from that in which it was used during the last century, must result in discoveries of the first importance to ethnology. Unsatisfactory as are these dim allusions, they yet shadow forth an acquaintance with this country earlier than that which we are accustomed to estimate as the earliest.

Leaving them, however, I proceed to speak of our earliest authentic literature, and for which we are indebted to the Dutch. So early as the close of the sixteenth century this nation entered the lists as a competitor with the Spanish and Portuguese in the East India trade. Several trading companies were formed, but the rivalry between them became so keen and so destructive of fair profits that the Government of the United Dutch Provinees—of which Zealand was one—stepped in and cured matters by granting in 1602 a charter for the formation of the afterwards celebrated Dutch East India; Company. The Island of Java was selected as the suitable centre of trade, and upon it, in 1610, was founded the City of Batavia, the capital. It was so named after the Batavi, who in the time of Cæsar were the ancient inhabitants of Hollands

From this capital sailed many an expedition in quest of discovery, and of new and fertile lands, which might extend the trade and fame of Vaderland. These were under the control and direction of the Governor-General, as he was entitled, and his Council. Amongst them was no one more eminent than Governor Antony van Diemen, and amongst his commanders none more skilful, or one who added more to the geographical knowledge of the time, than Abel Jansz Tasman. It was during such expeditions, ranging from 1606 onwards, that the western and southern coasts of Australia were discovered, and named, with true patriotic sentiment, New Holland. Tasman's memorable voyage, which is full of interest for us, extended over a period of ten months, and resulted in the discovery not only of New Zealand, but also of Tasmania, the Tonga or Friendly Isles, the Fijis, and others of less note. The expedition consisted of two vessels—the “Heemskerck” and the “Zeehaan.” It was fitted out with much forethought, and, what was very unusual, if not unique, an artist formed one of the ship's company. The vessels sailed from Batavia on the 14th of August, 1642, for the Isle of France, or, as it is now called, Mauritius. Thence they proceeded south, discovering and naming Van Diemen's Land. Seven days after, on the 13th of December—not a bad passage for a sailing-vessel even in these days—they fell in with or descried the high land on the west coast of New Zealand. “Staten Land” Tasman first called it, believing it to be part of that great southern continent which his friend and countryman Schouten was supposed to have discovered twenty-five years before. However, on his return to Batavia Tasman, finding that Schouten's continent was a small island, rechristened his own