THE AUCKLAND CURIOSITY SHOP.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 201, 7 October 1896, Page 2

THE AUCKLAND CURIOSITY SHOP.

Mr Enic Chaio's Museum. Visitors to Auckland seldom fail to inspect the Museum at the top of Shortland Street so ably presided over by Mr T. F- Cheeseman, and after gazing with more or less longing at the rich and rare specimens displayed to their view, but which are beyond the power of purchase, it is with satisfaction they turn to the curio shop of Mr Eric Craig where replicas, or rather duplicates, of many of those things which have interested them, may be obtained at a comparatively small outlay. Mr Craig's shop is in Princes Street about a stone's-throw from the Museum, and faces the Grand Hotel. Viewed from the street it is an unpretentious little building, but once across the threshold the visitor is surprised at its dimensions. The main show-room extends back about 80 feet; a long counter, on which at intervals cases of curios, &c, are placed, is in the centre ; on the one wall are displayed curiously wrought mats and native weapons from the rudely shaped boomerang of the Australian aboriginal to the strangely contrived implements of attack or defence of the more ingenious denizens of the South Sea Islands. Behind the counter are cases innumerable, all methodically arranged and testifying to the unwearying care which is bestowed upon their classification. The collection of ferns is most complete and ranges from the modest book of about a dozen varieties which can be obtained for half-a-crown, to the magnificently bound album witli panels of mottled kauri and containing 1 52 of the 172 known varieties of New Zealand ferns. It is quite a pleasure to glance over the pages of such a book. The greatest care has been bestowed on the mounting of the fronds, little pieces of moss being used to fix them in position. The effect is most artistic. Botanical collections suitable for museums and for scientific purposes are mounted in a very different manner and with an eye to their use by students. Of the 172 known varieties in these islands 140 are shown to us by Mr Craig. Each species is mounted on a separate card with the name and habitat marked. The seed is also shown and the root complete. Such collections can be obtained in sets at from 10s to 60s. Mr Craig lias published a book, which will be found of the greatest interest to botanical students and collectors, giving an exact representation of all the New Zealand varieties. With the aid of this the amateur botanist's troubles may bo much mitigated. He has also a Herbarium of Ferns from all parts of the world, for reference only, of over 2,000 varieties, arranged and classified according to Hooker and Baker's Synopsis Filicum, all in full fruit, shewing the root and the different stages of growth whereever possible, fixed on folding sheets of cardboard, 10 x 18 inches, and so adjusted that any fern can be fully examined and compared with any other in the collection I with little trouble. In fact, the method ftLiOptcu seems to uC- as simple ana perfect as it is possible to make it. Wo next turn to the collections of shells. They are in infinite variety from the tiniest spiral to the big conch and are all duly named and classified. Some of these shells are extremely rare and fetch up to 60s each. Carefully selected specimens may be obtained in boxes of from 25 varieties up to 1,000 and priced at from 2s Gd to £B. Next to the shells come the corals in all the glory of their pristine colour, and looking as if they had just been dragged from the ocean's depths. Thero are 70 varieties of these and the inspection is most interesting. Shell and coral ornaments, necklaces, &c, clubs, spears, Maori and Pacific Island curios, native pottery, tappa cloth and articles of quaint or ingenious design are scattered about in profusion, but in methodical order for all that, and each article has its price marked in unmistakable figures. It is a rule of the establishment that all prices are fixed onco and for all, and not arranged on a sliding scale to suit the class of customer. Mounting to the upper floor wc find ourselves in the museum room. Tho articles here are for exhibition only and not for sale. Tho room contains a specimen of each of the multifarious rarities on salo downstairs, and a great many valuable curios which have come into Mr Craig's possession, and of which it is either impossible or difficult to obtain dupbeates. Here, there is a perfect " embarrassment of riches " from a collectors point of view, and it is difficult to tear one's self away from this truly unique collection. A largo number of tho objects shown possess a historical interest, as tho descriptive placards attached to them indi-

cate. The collection of tikis (or distorted carved figures in greenstone) is unsurpassed in the Colony. These ornaments arc highly valued by the natives, yet Mr Craig informs us that there have been more in the market during the past 12 months than at any previous time. In one corner stands a complete suit of mail from the Line Islands. It is made of vegetable fibre and when stretched closes up like india-rubber. It will resist a leaden bullet from one of the old-time muskets, and was in use by the natives of the Marshall Group long before the German professors' bullet proof dress was thought of. We have here also a collection of shells, comprising 3,500 varieties and arranged according to Professor Reeve's Conchologia Iconica. A kava bowl from the Fiji Islands also claims attention. From the kava root, as most of our readers know, an intoxicating drink is made by a rather disgusting process. The plant is known to botanists as the piper methysticum and is similar to the piper excehum which grows plentifully near Rotorua. Many hours could be profitably spent in tiiis upper room in contemplating the treasures which have been gathered from all parts of the universe. Specimens of rare pottery made in the days of old Rome lie beside those manipulated by the deft fingers of the Pueblo Indian : Algeria, Arabia, the New Hebrides, Fiji and the "mighty Eu.st" also contribute their quota. Not less interesting are the exhibits from the countless tribes of the Dark Continent, from the Sioux, Esquimaux and other American Indians, from Arabia Felix, from Madagascar and the Islands of the Indian Seas, from Australia, and New Guinea. The collection of New Zealand curios is unique and of the greatest value. Most worthy of mention, perhaps, are the dogskin mat and taiaha of old King Potatau; the greenstone heitiki of To Alio te Wharepu of Rangariri, the constructor and commander of the pa there at the time of the Waikato war; and a large tribal ornament of the same uncouth shape measuring 7 x 4jin and is the largest tiki known. Standing at one end of the room and surveying the whole the visitor cannot fail to be struck with the symmetrical and unique manner in which the exhibits are arranged. The walls and roof are decorated with spears, and arrows and other weapons, in geometrically designed patterns, each group making a pleasing picture and at the same time being easy of examination in detail. Descending to the ground floor wo are taken into various apartments where the more bulky objects of interest are stored in the shape of Maori carvings. One of these, a pataka maru, stood at Wairoa during the time of the eruption, and was removed from there to a settlement on the Rotorua shore. Those versed in the intricacies of Maori sculpture consider it of great value, At the time of our visit it was in process of being photographed. Part of the ridge pole of the carved house which stood at Tahaki is also here, and the auhati or noticopost which formerly occupied a position in front of Mcßae's Hotel at Wairoa. This post was called by the natives Umukaria after the father of Hinemoa—-the heroine of the sweet and simple folk story which still lingers in the memory of her descendants here. Before leaving wo are introduced to Mr Craig's sanctum where the botanical, conchological and other specimens are classified and arranged, with intelligent and pains taking care. A well stocked library of books of reference is a heccssity in this work. Glancing along the shelves two volumes stand out prominently handsomely bound in full morocco. This is an edition of Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary published within the past few months snd containing nearly half a million vocabulary terms. It is certainly the best arranged dictionary wo have yet set our eyes on and turning over its leaves there seems to be nothing lacking which a well regulated work of reference of this description should possess. It is fitted with Denison's patent reference index which renders consultation easy. In Mr Craig's sanctum a pleasant half hour is passed away as he relates a few additional particulars of the Maori carvings which were being prepared for the camera, and of the various trips he from time to time makes in quest, of curios, accounts of which have reached his ears. After viewing the whole collection the conclusion is forced upon the visitor that it ought to be secured in its entirety for some New Zealand museum. Mr Craig certainly regards it with the loving eyes of a collector. He has acquired it after years of patient search and miles of travel, and is naturally loth to part with it. Still, inducements might be offered which would prompt him to dispose of it—more especially if he were assured that it would not be broken up and scattered— disjecta membra —over the four corners of the earth.