The road is wide enough for three or four carriages to run abreast, and on each side is a little grass plot and beautiful tropical trees. These afford a cool and pleasant shade to the heated pedestrian. In certain months of the year, when some of the trees are in bloom, it presents the appearance of a perfect Arcadia. Here and there, on either side, is to be seen the Flambeaux, or "Burning Bush," as it is sometimes called-and the name is not inappropriate; for its flaming red leaves, with the hot sun shining upon them, give it a brilliance that few other trees possess. Its botanical name is Poinsettia pulcherrima. Then there is another -the " Acalypha," the peculiarity of which is that one part of the leaf is green and the other bloodred. "The leaf is large and almost round, with a point, measuring about twelve inches by nine; colour, dark metallic green, blotched with intense red." Passing on beyond these we come to the "Avenue of Palms." These palm trees, tall and straight, with their feathery plumes, stand like sentinels on each side of the road, making a picture that is only to be seen to be admired. As we are now in the vicinity of the Botanical Gardens, we might as well extend our walk and luxuriate there for a short time. These gardens, which are quite of recent formation, cover an area of about 212 acres. As you enter the large and magnificent bronzed gate, the soft breeze fans your cheek and the sweet breath of flowers fills the air, and a sacred silence reigns around. Beautiful flower-beds on each side, made still more beautiful by the neatly-trimmed lawn which surrounds them, and a profusion of strange plants and trees and flowers, at once arrest the eye. It would need a botanist and a florist to describe them, and even he could only do for the plants what the anatomist does for the human body. He could describe the different parts and their relationship to the whole, but you must see these parts together, and animated by a living soul, to know the majesty and grandeur of man. So with these plants and flowers. Standing there, drinking in the perfume, and soothed by the soft and silent breeze, your eye gazing upon flowers and plants and lawns trimmed neat and in order, you begin to realise that the "luxuriance" of tropical life has been brought within the bounds of law and order. Nature here is no longer wild and wanton, but civilised and chaste. Her long tresses have been cut and trimmed, her exuberance directed into right channels and kept within proper bounds-in short, |