PORT ELIZABETH AND WALMER. 19 



like an avadavat ; a few goldfinches completed our col- 

 lection, and all were very tame and happy in their 

 little home. The broad leaves of two fine banana- 

 plants shaded birds and ferns from the sun, which 

 otherwise would have beaten in on them too fiercely 

 through the window of the verandah. A banana-plant 

 is a delightful thing to cultivate ; it grows so rapidly, 

 and is so full of health and strength ; and the unfold- 

 ing of each magnificent leaf is a new pleasure. 



We were within a short walk of our friends' house ; 



and during the frequent absences of T , my husband, 



often away for several weeks at a time while search- 

 ing in different parts of the country for a suitable 

 farm, it was very pleasant for me to have kind neigh- 

 bours so near, and a bright welcome always awaiting 

 me. Their garden was a large and beautiful one, and 

 its luxuriance of lovely flowers, roses especially, gave 

 ample evidence of their mistress's own care and love 

 for them. Nearly all the houses in Walmer have good 

 gardens, enclosed by the prettiest of hedges, sometimes 

 of pomegranate, plumbago, or passion flowers, but most 

 often of tall American aloes, round the sweet flowers 

 of which the pretty honey-suckers — magnified hum- 

 ming-birds, substantial instead of insect-like — are con- 

 tinually hovering, their jewelled dresses of green, red, 

 and yellow flashing in the sun at every turn of their 

 rapid flight. Close under the hedge, and shaded by 

 the aloe's blue-green spikes, the white arums grow in 

 the thickest profusion. No dining-table in Walmer 

 need be without a simple and beautiful decoration, for 



