The pit is only for
men. I was present at a tolerably good representation, by an
Italian company, of the opera of Lucrezia Borgia; the scenery and
costumes are not amiss.
If, however, I was agreeably surprised by my visit to the theatre, I
experienced quite a contrary feeling on going to the Museum. In a
land so richly and luxuriously endowed by Nature, I expected an
equally rich and magnificent museum, and found a number of very fine
rooms, it is true, which one day or other may be filled, but which
at present are empty. The collection of birds, which is the most
complete of all, is really fine; that of the minerals is very
defective; and those of the quadrupeds and insects poor in the
extreme. The objects which most excited my curiosity, were the
heads of four savages, in excellent preservation; two of them
belonged to the Malay, and two to the New Zealand tribes. The
latter especially I could not sufficiently contemplate, completely
covered as they were with tattooing of the most beautiful and
elegant design, and so well preserved that they seemed only to have
just ceased to live.
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