the source from which the several migrating races have proceeded. Within the Palace itself, we have been enabled to remark the works of man, and the gradual development of his ideas, especially in Art, leading to a variety of so-called “styles,” which answer in a measure to the varied _species_ of Divinely created life. We have now an opportunity of attentively considering the more marvellous and infinite creations of the Deity in the organisation and development of that greatest of all mysteries--life itself; and of obtaining a vivid idea of those peculiar varieties of mankind, that have hitherto not fallen under our personal observation. If the visitor should feel astonishment in the presence of some of the phases of human existence here presented to him, he may do well to bear in mind, that they are representations of human beings endowed with immortal souls; to whose capabilities we may not place a limit, and that it is not yet two thousand years since the forefathers of the present European family tattooed their skins, and lived in so savage a state, that late archæological researches induce us to suspect they were not wholly free from one of the worst charges that is laid to savage existence; viz. the practice of cannibalism.[24] [24] Archæol. Journ., p. 207. Sept. 1853. Entering upon the path immediately before him, the visitor will commence the examination of the groups arranged on the western side of the nave. Turning up the right-hand path, we find on the right a general illustration of Australia. The men here represented are copied from living natives of Cape York, North Australia, and strike us at once, by their half-starved, lanky, and ill-proportioned bodies, curiously tattooed; they may be looked upon as savages, hunters, and inhabitants of the forest; they possess that excessive projection of the jaw, which ethnologists make one of the distinguishing traits in the most degraded forms of man. These figures were modelled from some living natives who were brought to England in 1853, and who were kept for some weeks by the Company on purpose that these portraits should be accurately rendered. Amongst the animals will be noticed that most characteristic form, the Kangaroo, of which there are several species, and the Opossum, or Fox Phalangister, with a young one in its pouch. There are likewise specimens of the Duck-billed Platypus, Cook’s Phalangister, a Flying Opossum, an Emu, and a large rat called Hydromys. Some fine cases of Australian birds stand in the Transept close by. Here the visitor will find numerous plants, with which he is acquainted in conservatories; the _Banksia_, the _Acacias_, and the different kinds of _Epacris_ and _Eriostemon_, are amongst the most conspicuous. He will see also specimens of three other kinds of _Araucaria_, the most elegant of which is the Norfolk Island Pine.