19 



Returning from this house, and continuing in the path 

 some way to the West, leaving the Hop Hornbeam on one 

 side and a noble Sophora Joponica on the other, you turn 

 into the main walk of the herbaceous ground, and come to 



" No. 9. A Botany-Bay House, one hundred and ten feet 

 long, crowded with magnificent specimens of New Holland 

 and other plants, especially the former." This edifice also 

 remains in statu quo, and contains at this time a very mixed 

 collection ; mainly, however, from South Africa and Australia, 

 and many of them very grand specimens, particularly those 

 from New Zealand, many having been presented to us by the 

 Rev. William Colenso, of the Church Missionary Society in 

 that island. The oldest and largest individuals, however, are 

 the gift of Capt. Sir W. Symonds, Surveyor General of the 

 Navy. Among them may be seen the New Zealand Pine 

 (Dammara australis), of which the long, straight trunks are 

 so valuable for spars of ships; the graceful Dacrydium cupres- 

 sinum ; the peculiar- looking Phyllocladus trichomanoides, and 

 other forest-trees of that singular group of Islands. There is 

 a striking character in the hue of the New Zealand trees, 

 which must give a sombre aspect to the forest when chiefly 

 composed of them. 



This building is very much out of place in its present 

 position, and will be taken down as soon as a more suitable 

 range for greenhouse accommodation shall have been else- 

 where erected. 



" No. 10. An old Stove, reputed to be the first house 

 built in the gardens, one hundred and ten feet long, in three 

 divisions ; one containing noble specimens of succulent and 

 other plants; the second, a stately Zamia pungens, Palms, 

 &c. ; and the third, a miscellaneous set of greenhouse plants, 

 together with a few forced flowers for nosegays." This was 

 indeed the first, or among the first houses erected by Sir 

 William Chambers, and is that alluded to at p. 4 supra, where, 

 however, its length is given by Sir William Chambers at one 

 hundred and fourteen feet. Its antiquity is indicated by the 

 large, massy, wooden beams, which, if the edifice were allow- 

 ed to remain, would yet outlive many of the more modern 

 wooden structures. The walls, however, have, in part, given 

 way. It stands condemned, and will be pulled down, as soon 

 as we are provided with the needful accommodation for its 

 fine inmates. The contents arc still nearly of the same kind 

 as described by Dr. Lindley, and have suffered exceedingly 



