importance. So determined was M. Maclay to lose no opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of the Papuan race, that he submitted to all the discomforts of living amongst them for several months at a time, away from all European society, dwelling in a small hut, and for some time supporting himself by hunting. He has come to the conclusion (in opposition to the view formerly held) that the inhabitants of New Guinea are all of one race, although some who dwell near the coast have intermarried with the Malays and the inhabitants of other islands; and so low is the stage of culture to which they have attained that they have not learned even how to kindle a flame, but can only carry a torch from another fire; yet even amongst savages such as these the labours of the missionaries have not been in vain, as they have succeeded in teaching them something of the truths of the Christian religion, and have introduced the art of reading and writing. M. Maclay is of opinion, although he will not speak positively until he has made further investigations, that the Australian blacks are not connected either with the Papuans or the Polynesians, but form an independent race. I have lately heard that he has returned to this part of the world to carry on his ethnological investigations; and I trust that, should he come to New Zealand, he will be cordially welcomed by the members of the Institute.
Whilst speaking on this subject I should like to draw the attention of all here to the Geographical Society of Australasia, which, I learn, has been founded, and before which an interesting paper on New Guinea was lately read by Mr. La Meslee. I believe that the establishment of a society by which the residents in the various colonies would be united for the advancement of geographical knowledge, more especially in connection with the imperfectly known parts of Australasia, would be of great value, whether regarded from a scientific, commercial, or educational point of view, and I sincerely hope that New Zealand will unite with the other colonies in so admirable an undertaking.
The hand of death seems to have been unusually busy during the past year amongst men of science and letters. Scarcely had the grave closed over the remains of Charles Darwin before the news reached us of the fatal accident which had carried away Professor Balfour, at the early age of 32, one of the ablest and most promising men of his generation at Cambridge. In Professor Palmer we have lost one of the brightest scholars of Oriental literature. Amongst others whose loss we have to deplore are—Mr. Green, whose careful researches, made in spite of all the obstacles of a life of anxiety and feeble health, have placed English history in a new light; Robertson; the Ecclesiastical historian; Anthony Trollope, one of the most
