hered to the great earthen colanders through which
it is strained; also all the implements and utensils, the native still,
etc., used in making _pulque_ and in preparing and weaving the fibre of
the agave.

To go with greater detail into the treasures of this remarkable
collection, whose value is so great, not only historically, but in an
educational aspect (since it is readily accessible throughout and
instructively presented), is forbidden by the limits of space; but the
temptation to transgress is strong. I have said nothing, for example, of
the great series of crania, now many times larger than when Wyman
printed his papers in the early reports. A portion of this collection
has more recently been described by Mr. Lucien Carr, whose voluntary
services as an assistant at the museum have been of inestimable
advantage to it. I have alluded only incidentally to the department of
ceramics, which contains what is unquestionably the most important lot
of material ever brought together for the investigation of the history
and progress of the potter's art on the Western continent, from the
"cord-marked" potsherds of the shell-heaps to the fanciful creations of
Mexico and Peru.

It will be seen, then, to summarize briefly what this essay has said,
that the trustees of the Peabody Museum have secured to the public a
fire-proof building containing nearly four hundred thousand specimens
illustrating human progress in the "childhood of the world;" and these
have been placed under proper care and arranged in accordance with the
demands of modern anthropological science. An instructive and attractive
museum has been formed in this way, where, from time to time, free
descriptive lectures are given by the curator, and whither students may
go for special investigations with the assurance that, so far as America
is concerned, they have access to the most important collections that
have been brought together, while material for comparison with the
antiquities of other parts of the globe is not wanting.

ERNEST INGERSOLL.

A NORTH-RIVER FERRY.

Did the reader ever realize how important a part the ferry and the ford
have played in human affairs? How differently would history read without
its Caesar crossing the Rubicon, its Xerxes crossing the Hellespont, and
its Washington crossing the Delaware, its Paul Revere wherried across
the Charles, and its Burr and Hamilton ferried over to Weehawken,--not
to speak of the Hebrews goin