The Museum.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5082, 16 August 1884, Page 3

The Museum.

4 NEW FEATURES OF INTEREST. The admitted excellence of the Christchurch Museum, both as to its contents and the method of their arrangement, is a subject on which a true citizen of this " city of the plains " has every reason to feel proud. Still, it must be remembered that the popular institution was not always as it is now ; indeed, its present popularity is due entirely to the judicious alterations and improvements from time to time introduced. It is to find, therefore, that, spite of the difficulties, arising principally from want of cash, which beset the feet of its Director, the march of improvement still continues, and that consequently the popularity and usefulness of the museum may be expected to still further increase. Visitors to it will find several improvements in the arrangements and additions to the collections that have been made during the past few months. The system of ticketing the exhibits, to which reference has been made before in these columns, has been carried out to such an extent that every object now bears a card or a metal plate, with its name and other particulars inscribed thereon in characters "that he who runs may read." Above the entrance to each room, also, is a plate bearing its title, as " Mammal Room," " Fossil Room," &c. The additions to the collections are far too numerous and varied for all of them to be referred to here. A few — types of the rest, may, however, be drawn attention to. The collection of savage weapons which garnishes the entrance hall has been increased by the presence of specimens of the clubs, arrows and spears used by the natives of New Zealand. Not very formidable in appearance are these, certainly, but no doubt the warriors who fashioned them would be able to mangle and main their fellow men with them as sorely as would the Englishman with his sword, rifle, bayonet and other products of civilisation. To the right of the entrance hall is the Mammal Room, and here the first thing that claims attention i 3 the arrangement by which more space has been secured for visitors, who had formerly scarcely room to pass one another in the narrow passage between the side cases and the railing of the central enclosure. This railing, which was until recently fastened to the posts supporting the gallery, is now carried on brackets projecting some two feet beyond the posts, so that there is plenty of space in frent of the cases for those who wish to examine thencontents. The most noteworthy addition to the exhibits is a young female giraffe, from Darfour, which stands beside the adult animal of the same species at the upper end of the room. In the " Moa," or, as it might be styled, the " bird " room, is now to be seen a case, of which the contents are disposed in a Bingularly attractive and instructive manner. Instead of being stuck upright, stiff as soldiers at " attention," the birds are shown " in habit as they lived," engaged in some of the occupations they followed during life. This mode of arrangement, though objected to by certain of the Dryasdust school, as "unscientific," has, nevertheless, been ' adopted in the British Museum, and is ! certainly better calculated to give tbe ordinary visitor some idea of the habits of \ the birds than if the latter were grimly ; mounting guard over labels bearing " scientific " names, fearfully and wonder- ' fully compo. : ed, as " scientific names 1 usually are, of an apparently endless array lof syllables. In this case are a couple of eagles, fighting over a luckless wallaby ; a pair of gannetts, male and female, are engaged in rending with their beaks a fish one of them has seemingly captured. Two other groups are especially worth looking 1 at, on account of the skill with which they ; are " set up." One of these represents a vulture, from the Balkans, finding and defending a dead capercailzie — wood grouse. ; The art of the taxidermist is shown j in the marked difference in the plumage of the two birds. The grouse, by its " limp " and " draggled " appearance is a striking emblem of death, while vigorous life is shown in the attitude of the vulture. Not les3 noteworthy is the group of a Peregrine falcon about to dart from a tree stump upon a frightened little knot, a bird somewhat akin to an English snipe. The collections in the Maori house have been enriched by several fine specimens, notably 6oine excellent pieces of old wood carving, done before the Natives had learned the use of metal tools, and, therefore were confined to primitive implements — Btoneß, shells, and sand. Two balers, for baling water out of canoes in rough weather are particularly worth examination on ac- ■ count of the beauty of the work with which i they are decorated. In the upstairs rooms and galleries there are several fresh exhibits that are deserving of attention. Among these, in the gallery of the Moa room, is a painting of considerable interest, done by Mr S. C. FaiT in 1853, and presented by Mr G. Gould. It is a birdsoye view of a portion lof Banks Peninsula, taken from the ' summit of Mount Barraud, 2750 ft above ! sea level, and gives a good idea of the appearance of that interesting ground

before the white man, with his axe and saw, destroyed its primeval beauty.