should expect to find people some degree removed from barbarism on the Asiatic and American shores; and we do find nations of great antiquity on the west side, namely, China and Japan, whilst on the American side the Spaniards found the Mexicans and Peruvians little behind themselves in civilization, and excelling them in riches and magnificence. But the Spaniards not only found great towns to plunder, but they also discovered the massive ruins of large towns in deserted and wooded regions in Yucatan. In the courts of the houses there are now trees nine feet in diameter, whilst there is a depth of nine feet of mould above the pavements. As a proof that these cities were once the abode of a numerous people, it is remarked that the figure of a tortoise, raised in relief in the court of a temple at Uxmal, is worn nearly smooth by the feet of the crowds that passed over it. Of the works of art which Cortes sent to Spain, none excited more admiration than the superb garments made from feathers. No such work had been known in the old world, but this same art was practised in the Sandwich Islands and the Fijis. The Spaniards were struck with the copiousness and precision of the Mexican language, and Mr. Ellis makes the same remarks with regard to the Polynesian. What struck him most was the readiness with which boys learned arithmetic, and with regard to their names for numbers he says, “The precision, regularity, and extent of their numbers has often astonished me.” There was for a long time a serious obstacle to learning anything about the islands of Polynesia; I mean the foregone conclusion that the inhabitants came from Malaysia, and that the islands are extinct volcanoes, and the coral raised with the land from the bottom of the sea. The formation of the land and the nature of the polypifer have swept away the last part of the belief; but it is still sometimes asserted that the natives came from Malaysia in spite of winds and currents, and their own traditions and protestations. On the distinction between Malays and Polynesians Mr. Wallace is very clear. He lived with the natives in Malaysia for many years, and he proves that the West Australian current, which flows through the deep but narrow channel of Flores sea and Molucca passage, is the natural line between the two races of Malay and Papuan. With regard to the distinction between a Papuan and Polynesian he says:—“It is to be especially remarked that the brown and the black Polynesian races closely resemble each other. Their features are almost identical, so that portraits of a New Zealander or Tahitian will often serve accurately to represent a Papuan or Timorese, the darker color and more frizzly hair of the latter being the only differences. They are both tall races. They agree in their love of art and the style of their decorations. They are energetic, demonstrative, joyous, and laughter loving, and in all