of their construction, and the
uses to which they may be applied, given in the journal of the two Parsees,
Nowrojee and Merwanjee. "To us," say they, "brought up in India for
scientific pursuits, and longing ardently to acquire practical information
connected with modern improvements, more particularly with naval
architecture, steam-engines, steam-boats, and steam navigation, these two
galleries of practical science (the Adelaide and Polytechnic) seemed to
embrace all that we had come over to England to make ourselves acquainted
with; and it was with gratitude to the original projectors of these
institutions that we gazed on the soul-exciting scene before us. We
thought of the enchantments related in the _Arabian Nights'
Entertainments_, and they faded away into nothingness compared with what
we then saw."

But however widely apart the nonchalance of the Moslem, and the
matter-of-fact diligence of the Parsee,[5] may have placed them
respectively in their appreciation of the scientific marvels of the
Polytechnic Institution, they meet on common ground in their admiration of
the wax-work exhibition of Madame Tussaud; though the Khan, who was not
sufficiently acquainted with the features of our public characters to
judge of the likenesses, expresses his commendation only in general terms.
But the Parsees, with the naivete of children, break out into absolute
raptures at recognising the features of Lord Melbourne, "a good-humoured
looking, kind English gentleman, with a countenance, perhaps, representing
frankness and candour more than dignity"--William IV., "looking the very
picture of good-nature"--the Duke of Wellington, Lord Brougham, &c.;
"indeed, we know of no exhibition (where a person has read about people)
that will afford him so much pleasure, always recollecting that it is only
_one_ shilling, and for this you may stop just as long as you are
inclined." Their remarks, on seeing the effigy of Voltaire, are too
curious to be omitted. "He is an extraordinary-looking man, dressed so
oddly too, with little pinched-up features, and his hair so curiously
arranged. We looked much at him, thinking he must have had much courage,
and have thought himself quite right in his belief, to have stood opposed
to all the existing religious systems of his native land. He, however, and
those who thought differently from him, have long since in another world
experienced, that if men only act up to what they believe to be right, the
Ma