The third is a Malay top (gasing) made on the lathe, and furnished with an iron peg at the base. It differs from the European top in having the string wound round the upper part. The fourth is the top from Timorlaut before mentioned. This is cut by hand, and is oviform in shape. The long peg on the upper part is used to wind the thick twisted cord, which is made of a piece of Manchester print.

I might, with perhaps some advantage, have brought forward objects similar to these from parts of the East more distant from New Guinea, from India, China, and Japan. And, as a matter of fact, the modern Japanese top resembles these in question more nearly than any other that I am acquainted with. But at this time my object is simply to bring these curious toys under the notice of the Institute, and it was, therefore, unnecessary to go very far afield for analogous instances.

NOTE-All the specimens, of which drawings were exhibited at the meeting, are in the British Museum.

Fig. 1.

Description of Plate IV.

Teetotum or top. It consists of a lenticular disc of greyish buff stone; the upper face is flatter than the lower, and ornamented (see p. 85.) Length of stick, 8.6 in; diameter of disc, 425 in.; thickness, 13 in. Brought from Murray Island, Torres Straits, by the Rev. S. McFarlane.-British Museum (Christy Collection). Fig. 2.

Teetotum or top, of similar construction and material. The design on the upper face is in this case entirely in red ochre, and represents a standing figure of a native, in profile, to the left; behind him are two circular spots of red. His hands are raised in front of the face, and hold some object from which proceeds a curved line. like a jet of water. On the head of the figure are three plumes, curving backwards, and at the back of his waistband are two others. Round the edge of the top is a line of red. Length of stick, 11.5 in.; diameter of disc, 59 in.; thickness, 16 in. From Murray Island (Rev. S. McFarlane).-British Museum (Christy Collection).

Fig. 3. Spinning top of white wood, with stout peg at the top;

the body oviform. The whole cut with a knife, not made on the lathe. The string formed of a twisted piece of Manchester print. Height 4 in. Brought from Ritabel village, Timorlaut, Tenimber Islands, by Mr. H. O. Forbes. -British Museum (Christy Collection).

Fig. 4. Teetotum or top.

The body is formed of a section of cane 2-2 inches long, and 1.8 in. in diameter, having in the side an oblong opening cut through diagonally. The ends are closed with wooden plugs, and through the centre passes a stick 7.8 in. in length. From the Straits Settlements. Presented by the Commissioners for the Straits Settlements at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886. -British Museum.

Fig. 5. Teetotum or top, of similar construction and material to the last, with the exception that at the side the opening is small and roughly circular. Round the upper part of the stick is wound a slightly twisted cord. Length of stick, 8 in.; length of body, 3 in.; diameter, 2.2 in. Stated to have come from the Stewart Islands (Sakayana), Western Pacific. From the Godeffroy Collection, Hamburg. Presented by A. W. Franks, Esq., F.R.S. -British Museum (Christy Collection).

Fig. 6. Malay top (gasing) made of iron-wood (?), oviform in shape; turned on the lathe and having a small iron point. At the top is a projecting piece, below which the string is wound. Height, 3.6 in. From Selângor, Straits Settlements. Presented by the Commissioners for the Straits Settlements at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886.-British Museum.

The following Notes were presented by Lieut. Elton:

NOTES on NATIVES of the SOLOMON ISLANDS.
By Lieutenant F. ELTON, R.N.

Introductory Remarks.

WHILE serving as a Lieutenant in H.M.S. "Diamond," on the Australian station, the idea occurred to me to get a little anthropological information about the natives in those islands of the south-western Pacific which contain cannibal inhabitants, and amongst which the ships of the English fleet in those parts spend most of their time.

It is usual to find in these island groups some solitary white man who spends his life among the natives, living in some respects as they do; drawing the line at cannibal practices, but taking more kindly to native ideas of domestic economy as to the necessary members of a principal man's household. Some

times these white men have no particular occupation or object in view, but more commonly they act as collectors of "copra for some Queensland or other Australian firm, who send a schooner round at intervals of a few months to pick up the stuff for sale in Australia.

“Copra” is the name that has been given (I think by some of the natives) to the insides of cocoa-nuts. Vast forests of cocoanut trees fringe the coasts of the islands, and the natives, for a consideration, collect the nuts, break off the shell, and, cutting the inside into two or three pieces, pile up great quantities near the beach in the white man's grounds. Payment is made chiefly in tobacco and axes, for these natives understand so little of the value of gold or silver money that I have known a native, who received a sovereign from a trader in payment, shortly afterwards give the sovereign to another trader in exchange for an ordinary penny box of matches.

In the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands I found one or two of these solitary copra collectors, and I propose this evening to lay before you the information I obtained from the one living among the Solomon natives. He was a German who had re-named himself "Howard," and he seemed an observant, thoughtful, and well-educated man. While very reticent as to his reasons for having left the Fatherland to take up his abode in this out-of-the-way spot, he was readily communicative about the manners and customs of natives around him.

Parenthetically, it may be said of these natives, as it has ere this been remarked about others, that "manners they have none, and their customs are beastly" in the matter of devouring each other.

During one of the periodical visits of H.M.S. "Diamond" to the Solomons, I wrote down a number of questions of an anthropological nature in a note book, and left the book with the German, asking him to fill in the answers to the best of his knowledge at his leisure.

Some months afterwards, the ship again called at this spot, and I received my book from " Mr. Howard" with most of my questions pretty fully answered. These questions and answers. are now before the meeting, but as the exceedingly interesting exhibition of living specimens of the Australian aborigines has occupied most of the time at disposal, the matter must unavoidably be allowed to stand over till the printing of the Journal of Proceedings, in which the notes can be read in detail. I must say that the admirable little publication (too seldom used by travellers) named "The Admiralty Manual of Scientific Inquiry," was my guide in making these investigations.

Questions and Answers relating to the Solomon Islands.

Question 1. What is the average height and weight of the people? A note of any extreme cases, large or small, will be interesting.

Answer. The average height is between 5 and 6 feet. The largest man I have seen on Ugi measured 6 feet 8 inches, his weight was 184 lbs. The smallest full grown man was, if I remember rightly, 4 feet 2 inches in height and his weight was over 90 lbs.

Corpulence is not prevalent among the natives of the Solomon Islands. I have only seen one corpulent man at San Christoval, and I should think that his weight exceeded 200 lbs. The average weight is between 120 and 150 lbs.: the natives are, on the whole, well made, and there are not many cripples among them.

Question 2. Is there any prevailing peculiarity in the shape of the head, especially about the upper and lower parts ?

Answer. None that I know of. I have found a difference between skulls from Malayta and San Christoval.

Question 3. What is the usual colour of the eyes and skin? Answer. The eyes vary in colour from a light to a very dark brown, just as the colour of the skin does. On the islands of St. Anna, San Christoval, Ugi, Ulava, Malayta, Guadalcanar, and Florida the colours of the skin varies greatly from a light copper colour to a very dark brown almost approaching black. The beach people on the island of Isabel are the same, while the bush people at the north end of the same island are of a remarkably light colour. They are very timid, building their houses in trees and only coming down to the ground during the day. The natives of the neighbouring islands, in New Georgia, &c., are enemies to them, and kill them in great numbers: they likewise carry them off for the purpose of making them slaves. The natives of the islands west of the Guadalcanar (namely, Savo, Russel Island, New Georgia, Corrystone, Choiseul, Shortland and Treasury group, and Bougainville) are mostly of a black colour, there being very few light coloured natives among them. A skin disease is very prevalent among the whole race; it is a kind of ringworm, the natives call it Bucva.

Question 4. The colour of the hair, and whether fine or coarse, straight or curled or woolly?

Answer. The colour of the hair is dark brownish originally, but they powder their hair with lime and red ochre, which changes the colour to a light reddish brown. On the island of San Christoval this custom is not in general use. The hair is