70 MONTSEBRAT. 



out the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting 

 that which is bad, preserving and adding np all that is good ; 

 silently and insensibly working, whenever and wherever 

 opportunity offers, at the improvement of each organic being 

 in relation to its organic and inorganic conditions of life," 

 if this, I say, were proved to be true, ought God's care, God's 

 providence, to seem less or more magnificent in our eyes ? Of 

 old it was said by Him without whom nothing is made 

 " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Shall we quarrel 

 with physical science, if she gives us evidence that these 

 words are true? And if it should be proven that the gigantic 

 Hura and the lowly Spurge sprang from one common 

 ancestor, what would the orthodox theologian have to say 

 to it, saving " I always knew that God was great : and I 

 am not surprised to find Him greater than I thought 

 Him ? " 



So much for the giant weed of the Morichal, from which 

 we rode on and up through rolling country growing love- 

 lier at every stej), and turned out of our way to see wild 

 pine-apples in a sandy spot, or " Arenal " in a valley 

 beneath. The meeting of the stiff marl and the fine sand 

 was abrupt, and well marked by the vegetation. On one 

 side of the ravine the tall fan-leaved Carats marked the rich 

 soil ; on the other, the sand and gravel loving Cocorites 

 appeared at once, crowding their ostrich plumes together. 



