THE SYDNEY EXHIBITION.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1759, 9 October 1879, Page 3

THE SYDNEY EXHIBITION.

THIRD NOTICE. [from the re ess correspondent.] Although the New Zealand Court, even on the day of opening, was artfully arranged so u to present an appearance of completeness and interest, and retains that appearance with constantly growing improvements, the actual fact, discoverable only by such special investigation and perquisitions as fall to the lot of a special correspondent or press reporter, is that even now the exhibits are not half ready for examination. In the absence of any catalogues, and the frequent lack of labels, the general public are no t likely to make this discovery, for even in its present condition the court is a fairly interesting one. But how serious are really the omissions may be gathered when it is mentioned that one might spend a whole day in the court and scarcely notice anything to indicate that the Maori race have any significance in the islands, or that Now Zealand possesses any mineral wealth besides gold. In fact, the Maori exhibits and the mineral and geological specimens are not yet on view. And as regards the general exhibits, the difficulty which existed when I last wrote, of compiling a really satisfactory description, is but little abated. I purpose, therefore, deferring further description of this court until the catalogues shall be forthcoming, and the ticketing and arrangement of the thousand and other articles on view completed to correspond, which will be, I hope, within the week. When the court is fairly “ fit” I will endeavor to convey to readers just how the court looks, and particularly how the exhibits from Christchurch and tho adjacent parts fare in the general display. In the meantime, it will be most suitable to take up the thread of description where I broke off in my last. Now Zealand is in a forward condition compared with some of tho courts, and in the matter of catalogues ahead of all except Queensland. The last mentioned had its catalogue ready on the opening day. That of New Zealand was then and remains now in the hands of tho printer; while with regard to all others goodness only knows whether their catalogues are compiled or even commenced to bo compiled. Since the opening day the appearance of most of the courts has undergone material alteration, save the Austrian only, which continues to be hidden still behind a barrier of screens. To the British, very considerable additions have been made, but with few exceptions, my former letters have conveyed a fairly comprehensive idea of the various departments in this court. The ceramic ware has been added to by a number of additional firms’ exhibits, and still forms the most notable group in the court. Only the glassware demands additional mention ao far as this branch of industry is concerned. Two exhibitors, Messrs Webb and Sons, of Stourbridge, and John Ford and Co., of Edinburgh, divide the honors. The former has the larger and most varied collection, and occupies a largo space in the best Eosition in tho whole building, which the eauty and magnificence of his wares quite justify. Two chandeliers, one of woven, and the other of crystal-cut glass, are suspended from handsome arches. The first looks as though it were fashioned out of ice and snow, the other as if of huge diamonds. Both are beautiful and resplendent beyond description, and they are priced at £SO and £6O. Equal and even larger sums are asked for single water-jugs of glass, magnificently ornamented with designs in intaglio and relief. Similar wares are shown by Forde and Co. The bowls of the jugs are engraved with series of figures representing such scenes as “On the road to the tournament," illustrative of “Ivanhoe,” “Boys playing with goats,” “The Goddess of Music,” “Pomona,” and so forth, and for these also prices varying from thirty to sixty guineas are asked. While on the subject of p ices, I may remark that for the vases and dinner services already described among the Staffordshire wares, appalling figures are demanded. I have been shown single dessert plates at thirty, forty, and fifty shillings each. Among the exhibits added since last writing, woollen goods from Salashiels and from Leeds are especially worthy of remark. The Galashiels tweeds arc particularly good, woven apparently with large soft yarn, which gives a bold elastic texture to the tweed, which took my fancy immensely. The Leeds stuffs are more like what one ordinarily sees in the tailor’s shops here—harder and closer woven. In addition there aie splendid samples of artificial seal skin stuff, very rich, thick, and soft in texture and pile. _ Arrowsmith, of London, shows, in addition to marqueterie flooring in two patterns, as laid down respectively for the Queen, the Marquis of Ely, and others, some art furniture of most attractive design, including cabinets and a mantelpiece, of which the former are quaintly elegant, and the latter positively noble. Numbers of chairs or chair frames stand about, and show the prevalent taste which is in vogue for antique models, which, in chairs, are not always graceful, being too angular. In metal bedsteads some gorgeous things are shown, but in point of interest the palm is borne off by a bedstead and woven wire mattress, exhibited by R. L. Orosbie and Co. Their sample bed is a wonderful piece of hammered and burnished brass work, but the mattress is the thing. Woven wire mattresses are not new, but this bed is fitted with a removable winch, which turns a roller to which one end of the mattress is fastened, and thus as the wire stretches the whole can be tightened and strained up afresh in a moment. _ The prices seem moderate—46s for a full size mattress for a double bed.

Another very interesting set of exhibits in the furniture line, is a group of camp furniture, constructed so as to secure the maximum of strength consistent with the minimum of weight and the greatest possible portability. These are very excellent. The frames seem mere battens of tough wood, and the seats and so forth appear to be of some waterproof and very untearable fabric. There is a tent fitted with stretcher bed, and a most ingenious table, the top of which is made on the same principle as those folding or rolling dish mats commonly in use: that is to say of two laths of wood glued or otherwise cemented on oilcloth. The table when folded for transport will not be greatly larger than an umbrella. A washstand has batten, tripod frame, and mackintosh basin, like an apron fastened at the corners, with a pocket for soap. A sort of arbor or canopy is among these, and in very sunny or very wet weather the comfort of it is obvious.

Of boots, saddlery, and harness there is great profusion, but nothing very novel. The hardwares from Birmingham and Sheffield make a strong show also, but save in itho get up in the way of extra burnishing for exhibition, have scant attraction for general observers. I am chiefly impressed with the absence of new appliances. All

the models are the old familiar ones, and few articles are shown except such as may be any day seen in a large ironmongery establishment in Sydney. In fact, the window displays at several of the George street establishments are decidedly more effective and interesting than the hardware cases in .the Exhibition. Some very good electroplated wares are on view. Stoneware, such as demi-johns and all that family, large and small, and glass bottles and phials in every shape, surgical instruments, measuring rules, stationery, and various other wares not separately attractive, but contributing to the general effect, pretty well complete the contents of the British court. What the galleries will contain when fully fitted up must remain to be mentioned hereafter. THE AMBBIOAK COURT

Is somewhat disappointing to any one who expected to see in it evidences of restless ingenuity and a bewilderment of clever notions. Still, in that respect it is far ahead of the British section. The tools of Disston, Collins, and other hardware manufacturers in many instances are improvements on the old forms. This is especially noticeable in the different kinds of planes. Locks, hinges, and bolts tfre made to look handsome by the Russell and Irwin manufacturing company ; but it may be remarked that appearance was in many of the cheaper kinds gained at the expense of strength by substitution of oastiren casings for wrought iron ones. Some curious kinds of hollow augur-bits are shown by W. A. Ives ; and rules, levels, and planes by the Stanley Company. The most notable display in this court is made by the manufacturers of electro-plated wares. There are several magnificent cases full of these goods, which are made by machinery, and can bo sold at extremely reasonable figures. The designs are elegant in the extreme, and some of the articles look wonderfully rich and lovely. A complete and very handsome cabinet or case, containing a complete set of knives, forks, spoons, ladles, &c., a dozen of each, except of the ladles, of handsome pattern and heavily plated, knives as well as spoons, &0., is £24. A very graceful little epergne, for biscuits or anything of the kind, can be got for 30s to 50s. A tea and coffee set, with trays and urn, all silver-plated and of richly-ornamented design, is from £l2 to £25. And an admirable little set of four small “ pieces,” on tray, for tea or coffee service, brilliantly done in goldplating, is marked at £4O. There is a large show of the mottled enamel culinary ware recently invented. The globe horseshoe nails, of which a case is shown under charge of a special attendant, deserve to be known. They are manufactured and turned out by machinery ready pointed for immediate use, have a smooth clean surface, and are of rather stiffer metal than the ordinary horseshoe noil, which, in respect to appearance, they entirely put out of Court. I procured a sample, and shall endeavour to have it conveyed to you ; but, a box of nails, however natty, is rather a serious affair to send by post. The Winchester repeating rifles are shown in this court. These weapons have frequently been mentioned of late years. The Red Indians fighting the TJ.S. troops are said to have managed to arm themselves with them. It is claimed that they are the best magazine rifle in existence. The newest model, as exhibited, looks somewhat like a double-barrelled gun, except that one barrel occupies the place where, in muzzle-loading guns, the ramrod would be, and is a mere shell of thin sheet iron. This is the magazine, which contains a reserve or supply of cartridges. A single motion, pulling_ down a lever, which occupies the place of trigger-guard, carries a cartridge from the magazine into the firing chamber, and simultaneously cocks the firing plunger. The magazine accommodates from six cartridges in some carbines with magazines extending only half the length of the barrel, to seventeen cartridges in the longer military and sporting rifles. In the old model the loading process was troublesome. It was effected near the muzzle end of the magazine by pushing back the coiled or worm spring, which thrusts forward the cartridges past a slot which gave admission to the cartridges. The [latest model now shown has superior advantages, as it can be used as a simple breechloader, the loading being done at the side of the lock plate, through a grooved trap. By inserting a single cartridge one can fire just as well as though the magazine were full, or one can fill up the magazine by the same aperture, keep its contents in reserve, and go on inserting and firing single cartridges. The weapon is undoubtedly an effective one, and ranges in price from about £4 for a carbine, upwards. Another very noticeable exhibit is an operating chair for surgeons, and especially dentists —or rather for their patients. This is an ingenious combination of mechanical adjustments, by means of which the victim can bo raised or lowered, twisted this way or that, laid on his back, or made to turn his head to a side with the least possible trouble to the operator. A descriptive pamphlet is distributed by a person in charge, who also shows the various adjustments of the chair, and entices innocent and inexperienced children who have had no experience of life and dentistry, to sit in it and be screwed up higher and generally twisted about, under the impression that the affair is a new and agreeable sort of merry-go-round or swing. The pamphlet is a most diverting affair, containing a collection of utterly cold-blooded testimonials from dentists, who write with an utter apparent freedom from moral restraint, such awful flams as the following:—“My patients all agree that they are very comfortable in this chair; ” “The chair gives great satisfaction, and each day’s use brings fresh delight;” and “ A dental office without this chair is like a home without a mother.” One hardened villain ignores the patient altogether, and testifies callously that the chair “ has enabled me to operate with more comfort to myself than I ever deemed possible.” Some weighing machines, admirable exhibits of tobacco from Virginian factories, and a largo collection of reed-organs, pretty nearly make up the show yet opened in this court, which however is not yet complete. The Waltham Watch Company’s exhibits are not yet on view, but the show cases for their reception are in course of erection in the nave opposite the court, which has hitherto been kept free for the accommodation of participants in the opening ceremony.

The Japanese court, and two small ones allotted to the Straits Settlement and Fiji respectively adjoin the U.S. Court. The Japanese one is now in excellent trim and interesting in its way, affording very curious evidence of the transition from Orientalism to imitated European systems and industries which is going on among that remarkable nation. The ceramic ware is so plentiful and so varied in design as almost to dishearten anyone wishing to describe it. The shelves are quite Gothic, in this that no two ornaments are alike. On the sides of some vases are birds like partridges, or perhaps quail, in their natural colors, and in such high relief that they appear to be breaking out of the vase. Others again have cunningly wrought cavities representing hollows in the decayed boughs of trees, or chinks in rock, in which are nests with young birds. Over some crawl beetles and other insects. Others again, present human figures seemingly climbing round tho vase, crabs crawling over the surface, and infinite variety of relief work. Then in the way of painted vases, there are quantities extremely curious. Perhaps the oddest thing is to see halos, or glories, such as it is customary to show encircling the heads of Christian saints, similarly depicted as distinguishing extremely ugly Japanese. Explanation of this singular matter is, of course, not procurable. The woven stuffs, even those of silver and gold fabric, are poor as compared with European makes. Needles from a native factory are shown, and closely resemble the sort of needles which our own great grandmothers had to be content with. The bronzes are very fine, and some grand vases of that material are really wonderful. Some matting of a beautiful pale yellow, and apparently made of some pithy rush is delightfully soft, and being quilted double, explains how the Japs manage to sleep upon mere matting laid on the floor.

The imitative arts are exemplified by some truly astonishing successes, especially in steel engravings—bank-notes, dobentm-es, &c., and a fine portrait of a noble-looking Japanese gentleman in European uniform, and wearing numerous decorations. There are, also, capital photographs, of which one is remarkable for a strange lurid tint imparted to it. The cutlery—scissors, knives, &c.—is very inferior. This court is not a good one to describe, and not even interesting to superficial observers. It is only by closely examining the finer vases, &c., one by one, and scrutinizing the designs and paintings on them, that one can enjoy the display. The Fiji court is decorated at its entrance by two stools of sugar cane, the most remarkable that I have ever seen, although I have seen the cane growing ready for crushing, both in Queensland and Mauritius. One stool has fourteen stalks of cane, which shoot up to heights varying from twenty-six to twenty-eight feet, without reckoning the “tops”

or leaves. The other is nearly equal in dimensions. The stems are as thick as any firstrate cane, and to anyone familiar with the ordinary growths, these are perfectly astonishing, I am told, however, that the density of the juice is not equal to ordinary cane Juice, and that in that respect these giants are frauds. Still they show what the soil and climate will produce in the way of monstrosities, and make very striking exhibits. The other exhibits are chiefly tropical produce, sugars, coffee-berries, tapioca, candied-nuts, ivory-nuts (used for turning small articles), tobacco, rather poorly got up; copra, the sun-dried contents of the cocoa-nut; beche-de-mer, or sea slug, prized as a table delicacy by the Chinese ; dried bananas, looking also something like preserved slugs or big caterpillars, but yet with a likeness too to dried figs ; rum, flavored with pineapple and shaddock, and a few Native curiosities, of which the most noticeable is a helmet with vizor, made with a mane or scrub of cocoa fibre, and painted, as regards the mask or vizor, with an obvious intention of striking horror into the foe. The scantiness of Native appliances, weapons, <fec., in this courtis explainable, I take it, by the fact that all ethnological exhibits are to be grouped together in one of the galleries and placed under the charge and direction of the New Zealand commissioner, Dr. Hector, who, it appears, is an authority on such matters. The commissioner for the Straits Settlement—Malacca, Singapore, Perak, and adjoining regions—has, however, retained some of the weapons, &0., from these parts, with the result that a visitor’s first impression on entering his court is that the leading Malay industry must be murder. There is a trophy of very blood-curdling arms on the wall—arms of the cutlass, knife, and spear order. In the front part of the court lies also a very queer piece of ordnance, a brass swivel cannon from Johore, about five or six feet long, and as straight as a Quakeress m full dress. The breech is no larger in diameter than the chase or any other portion save that—which makes the Quakeress simile still appropriate—there is a slight pouting of the lips. This is a suggestive, venomous looking exhibit. It has evidently seen service as armament of some light craft, and within the court there abound models of Malay prahs, with wonderful lines for speed, wnioh help the imagination to fill up the picture. The Malays have always, till lately, been notorious and savage pirates, and their swift prahs, equally handy under sail or propelled with sweeps, and carrying swarms of men, have caused the disappearance of many a stout merchant ship, caught in light winds or in calms. This swivel would carry a ball of from four to six pounds. Gutta percha occupies the chief place among the exhibits of produce in this court. The mines of tin, which until the discoveries in Australia and Tasmania were the sole sources of the supply of that metal except the Cornwall mines, are very inadequately represented by a few phials of stream ore. But the most extensive workings are in Dutch, not British territory, which may account for this fiasco. Some teapots and other small vessels of block tin are, however, also shown, and every sort of spice is to be found on the shelves here. By the way, my notes remind me that it would be a gross wrong to quit the subject of tin without mention of a small curiosity in the [shape of a tin dog, which has the merit of wagging ics tin tail when that appendage is filliped with the finger. Having discharged my duty to this praiseworthy dog, I am at liberty to proceed. Except your kauri-gum, of which your colony appears to possess a monopoly, I should think every known gum is to be seen in the Straits’ display of produce. There are gum tragacanth, gum copal, gum benzoline, gum dammar, and gum benjamin, any one of which I believe excels your gum in nastiness, and finds nobler uses. Yours is employed for the base purposes of varnishes, as I understand; these are in several instances employed in heightening up the general effect of the most revolting medicinal draughts. There is another stuff, of which the Straits people seem proud, as it is shown in a variety of prepared and raw forms. It is called gambia, and on being told by the Commissioner that the Natives eat it, I felt bound in justice to the readers of the Press to taste some, so that I could describe my impression. The stuff looks like pipeclay, only yellowish, and it has a mingled flavor of earth and conjecturally —dead dogs. I can now finally leave the northern half of the main floor, and crossing the transept, pass by the central fountain, surmounted by the statue of the Queen —a mere cone of bronze drapery, surmounted by a dignified head, and allowing a couple of rather large arms to be seen—l pause for a moment by a triangular prism of mirrors, to admire in them the reflection of a—hem !—noble form and intelligent countenance which I happen to see reflected therein, and tearing myself away from this delightful spectacle, a trophy very prominently placed in the otherwise open space under the dome arrests attention. There have been ferocious letters in the newspapers about this trophy, which belongs to the Dutch court close by, and consists wholly and exclusively of a conical stand covered with tiers of square gin. The_ Dutch court I regard as the most characteristic in the building. It is small, and one can get a general impression at a single comprehensive glance. My general impression, so obtained, was that it was a court of grog, cheese, and cigars. Detailed examination modifies the first impression, but does not remove it. However, good gin is preferable to bad, and as there is a useful lesson on the subject of choice of liquors to be gained in this court, I will end avour to convey it. It appears that Sydney has but little direct trade with Holland, and has been characteristically content to get its supplies of Dutch goods—gin principally—at secondhand from Melbourne. Now Zealanders are, I know, more enterprising and wide-awake than New South Welshmen, but they maintain close commercial connection with Melbourne, and may perhaps be in the same boat with N.S. Wales in the matter of gin. Now it has come out, principally in consequence of the personal presence here of a Dutch Commissioner, that N.S. _ Wales importers are paying for inferior gin, via Melbourne, about as highly as superior gin would cost them if imported direct, and relieved of the profits of middlemen. The liquor on exhibition is made up in quite a different size of bottle from that which one invariable sees in the publichouses here. The firms which exhibit are, I fancy, little known in the colonial markets, and if their produce be, as asserted, superior to the common spirit so largely consumed here, it may be well that the public should know the names. Irwin Lucas Bols is said to be the oldest firm of distillers in Europe, dating back as far as 1575, and has a factory at Amsterdam called Fabrick ’T Lootsje. Rademakers and Co., of Delfshaven, are the largest manufacturers of gin in Holland, and it is stated are independent of any trade but that which purchases the article they manufacture at its best quality and price. J. H. Henkes is known in these markets, and supplies any quality and price, according to order. Bols has a great rival in the firm of Wignaud Fockink, of Amsterdam ; and E. Kiderlin, of Delfshaven, is said to carry on a profitable trade with Africa, part of America, and some of these colonies. I must confess that for these particulars I am indebted to the “ Sydney Morning Herald,” for, although not a teetotaller, the liquorish and sordid aspect of this Dutch court disgusted me, and I did not linger long in it making inquiries, preferring to pass on to where Italy invited me with noble and beautiful works of art. _ It happens curiously enough however that this is the one court of which the “ Sydney Morning Herald” has up to the present time published a complete and exhaustive description. Affinities differ I suppose. I don’t complain, for the fact chances to suit me remarkably well, as in every other court written for your paper my descriptions are, though of course not so lengthy, considerably ahead as regards all leading and essential features, of those in the “Herald.” It is but fair to Holland to state that among so many gin factories it actually possesses one establishment for the manufacture of perfumery. I am disposed to suspect that this is not so much an indication of the existence of a proportion of delicate sentiment in the country as an outcome of thrift. There may probably be a spirit casually produced in the course of the gin making which is unsuitable even for exportation to Sydney via Melbourne for drinking purposes, but adapted for perfumery. So as to avoid waste, Mynhrer has started in the perfumed spirit business. I suppose these remarks are unfair, but really that brutal Dutch court exasperates me whenever I think of it. As for the cigars, I confess to a hostile prejudice. Hamburg cigars I call public house cigars. Who over saw a box with a downright Hamburg label ? No. They are always prime Havannahs, Regalia de la Reinas, Caballeros, and so on with elaborate sham Spanish labels, I love a genuine

Havannah, but these Dutch swindles have scared me off trying to get one. I smoke Manillas now, and have done so for years. They contain a little opium, and leave a dry palate in consequence, but at least they are uniform in quality, and reliably genuine. If by evil chance I have no pipe and run short of cigars in a country town or a bush place, I can get no such thing as a Manilla. Bush lumpies, country pubs, and small storekeepers scorn to keep Manillas. But they can invariably offer one a magnificent genuine Havannah, from Hamburg, for which they pay five shillings per hundred and charge fourpence or sixpence each. I don't say but that there may be capital cigars manufactured at Hamburg, and the contents of the show-case in [the Dutch court would probably prove excellent smoking, though awfully various in style, strength, and flavor —one| can never get the same quality of Hamburg cigars twice, even from one shop—but the trouble is that they are so extremely ready to make up to the order of any scoundrel a weed in a decent outer leaf and of presentable appearance, which can be sold at a swinging profit as low as twopence or sixpence, according to the sobriety or intoxication of the ultimate purchaser, and which after a couple of puffs becomes a soft sodden roll of stuff emitting acrid fumes. Excuse my warmth. As Mr Guppy in Bleak House remarks, “ There are chords in the human breast.” Bad grog and bad cigars, and bad taste are affairs which jar my chords. To resume. A really interesting exhibit in the Dutch Court is in the form of a brace of largo glass jars filled respectively with a spirit distilled and with an oil extracted from maize. There is, it is stated, a possibility of a trade being established between these colonies and Holland in the articles of maize and wheat, I subjoin what the “ Herald ” says on this subject, having personally not any information, and as I believe New Zealand has wheat to export, and might find it advantageous to take Dutch goods in exchange, and so’eatablish a direct trade and get a quality of gin which would undermine the Quod Xemplarism of even Sir William Fox:—“ This wheat and maize was sent from the Hunter River districts to Holland, for the purpose of being subjected to the process of distillation, and the result was that spirit 64 over proof, and an oil which may be useful for many purposes, were extracted from them. What particular purposes the oil is useful for, and whether it can be made more profitably in Holland than in Australia, remains to be seen ; all that can be said now is, that it has been made in Holland, and is on view at the Garden Palace, where it can be examined at any time. It may be good for food, it may be useful for lighting, or it may be fit for lubricating purposes—that has yet to be ascertained. As far as appearances go, it is of good consistency and colour, and should prove valuable for some purpose or other. With regard to the export of wheat and maize to Holland there is an opinion—though we cannot vouch for its correctness—that by the time the wheat arrives in Holland it is in too hard a condition to be used in the making of bread, and therefore the extraction of spirit from the grain may be the only profitable process to which the wheat may in Holland be subjected. The fact, however, remains that the export of wheat from Australia to Holland is advantageous, inasmuch as a very powerful spirit can be manufactured from it, a-d from maize both spirit and oil can be extracted.” I nowpaes on, gratefully, to Italy, and, arrived in front of the court of that country, stand palpitating. Before me is one of the most exquisite works of the sculptor’s art I ever beheld. My opportunities for forming a taste have not been considerable. The Royal Scottish Academy exhibitions, the British Museum, and the galleries of the Louvre

comprise all I have seen, save in engravings and photographs. But this before me strikes me as exquisite. A female figure, half size, veiled only like Lady Godiva with a flowing tress of hair, leans against a rock, her bead flung back, showing the full beauty of the graceful neck, one hand supports her on the rock, the other is flung up to her temple*. The lovely face is racked, but not distorted, with anguish and despair. It is the Arrianna Abbandonata of Oalvi, wrought in pure white Carrara marble. As I look upon it, and my eye dwells now upon the pose of the figure, now upon the anguish of the face, I come, at last, to understand how connoisseurs can rave about the beauties of a mutilated torso or decapitated body, and also how terrible a loss may be a missing head. There is diversion, too, provided, as well as deep enjoyment, by this gracious figure. It is exquisitively beautiful, but it is also very nude—obstrusively nude. And it is entertaining to notice|how ladies fluttering gaily to the court catch sight of this figure, start, stand entranced a moment, and then, as a general thing, shy at it. To look at some of them, one would almost suppose that, in their opinion, when the Creator formed Eve, and said that it was good. He was under a mistaken impression, and had really been guilty of an indecency. Some, hewever, show better sense and truer delicacy. They walk up and have a good steady look at it, and say it is beautiful, and so pass on. Two busts at either side, and a little distant, are by the same artist—CalvL They are of bronze and marble, ingeniously wedded. One represents Othello. The face is bronze, but the head is artfully enveloped in a burnous of snowy marble which comes down also to fold over the bust and sleeve and to form that fatal handkerchief which is held in the dark hand, and on which the tense face and straining eyeballs are concentrated. There is generally an admiring circle grouped in front ot this. Unquestionably it is a fine work, full of power. But Ido not altogether like it. It offends my modem ideal. The face is that of an absolute negro, not a coarse type—a blubber-lipped or hippopotamusnostrilled negro. But a Moor of Africa—a blackamoor ! The question as to the propriety, or otherwise, of so representing Othello is an old and hard-fought one. No need to revive it in this column. But modern playgoers have been accustomed to accept the idea of a ruddy Moor, brown, but Caucasian in feature ; and when Othello is suddenly presented as a negro, these preconceptions are violated. Apart from that I have no excuse to offer for not altogether liking this bust. Its companion is a representation in the same apparent blending of bronze and marble of Selika L’Africaine. This, too, is a marvellous idealization. Ladies come and stand looking at this head with entire composure and complaisance, but, in fact, it is ten thousand times more indecent, although only a head, than the full length statue so many wince at. In the heavily-drooping eye-lids, the sensuous mouth and lips, and the languishing eyes of this dark beauty, are expressed a thousand lascivious longings and suggestions. It is a wonderful head, but for that foregone reason—it is a strange mingling of the beautiful and of the repulsive. It is the face of a quadroon Faustina. It is with regret that I find myself compelled to break off just as about to enter tho Italian court and tell of its beauties. But ! will pick up the thread of my description in my next, whore I now drop it. Tho steamer departs for New Zealand in a few hours, and compels me to wipe my pen.