NONSUCH 



for me, the first unbelievable notes of a canyon wren 

 in a Mexican arroyo. 



One memorable evening on Nonsuch my path was 

 suddenly blocked by an odor — so abrupt, so in- 

 tense, that it might well have been a tangible barrier, 

 and out of the exhalation of a new-born cereus were 

 conjured all the subconsciously recorded details of 

 a Guiana jungle. Leaving all abstract sentiment, I 

 sit down anywhere among the open vegetation of 

 Nonsuch and am at home — head deep in a field of 

 goldenrod. 



I cannot keep away from the theme of the cedars, 

 for their importance is dominant. Even Dr. Britton 

 writes of the Bermuda juniper as " one of the most 

 interesting of all trees," and if " N. L." himself 

 thinks so, after his intimacy with alphas and omegas 

 of plants, there is no doubt about it. If Bermuda 

 were decedared it would enter the category of desert 

 islands. Brangman, near us, is epitomized by the 

 fact that not even a cedar grows upon it. In a land 

 of immigrants, stowaways, and garden escapes, the 

 cedar can boast of autochthonous origin, which is a 

 hot-potato-mouth way of saying it is an original in- 

 habitant. 



The first arrivals, who were also the first humans 

 to be washed ashore from the outer reefs, found for- 

 ests of cedars. From these the survivors of the 

 wrecks of the Bonaventura and the Sea Venture 

 were able to build ships strong enough to carry them 

 to Newfoundland and to Virginia. Later settlers 

 had excellent reasons for denuding the island of 



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