494 The Aku Islands. 



colors the whole length and breadth of our land. These 

 beauties are all common. They are characteristic of the coun- 

 try and climate; they have not to be sought for, but they 

 gladden the eye at every step. In the regions of the equator, 

 on the other hand, whether it be forest or savanna, a sombre 

 green clothes universal nature. You may journey for hours 

 and even for days, and meet with nothing ^ to break the mo- 

 notony. Flowers are everywhere rare, and any thing at all 

 striking is only to be met with at very distant intervals. 



The idea that nature exhibits gay colors in the tropics, 

 and that the general aspect of nature is there more bright 

 and varied in hue than with us, has even been made the 

 foundation of theories of art, and we have been forbidden to 

 use bright colors in our garments, and in the decorations of 

 our dwellings, because it was supposed that we should be 

 thereby acting in opiDosition to the teachings of nature. 

 The argument itself is a very poor one, since it might with 

 equal justice be maintained, that as we possess faculties for 

 the appreciation of colors, we should make up for the deficien- 

 cies of nature and use the gayest tints in those regions where 

 the landscape is most monotonous. But the assumption on 

 which the argument is founded is totally false, so that even 

 if the reasoning were valid, we need not be afraid of outrag- 

 ing nature, by decorating our houses and our persons with all 

 those gay hues which are so lavishly spread over our fields 

 mountains, our hedges, woods, and meadows. 



It is very easy to see Avhat has led to this erroneous view 

 of the nature of tropical vegetation. In our hothouses and 

 at our flower-shows we gather together the finest flower- 

 ing plants from the most distant regions of the earth, and ex- 

 hibit them in a proximity to each other which never occurs 

 in nature. A hundred distinct plants, all with bright, or 

 strange, or gorgeous flowers, make a wonderful show when 

 brought together ; but perhaps no two of these plants could 

 ever be seen together in a state of nature, each inhabiting a 

 distant region or a difierent station. Again, all moderately 

 warm extra-European countries are mixed u]) with the trop- 

 ics in general estimation, and a vague idea is formed that 

 whatever is pre-eminently beautiful rmist come fi'om the hot- 

 test parts of the earth. But the fact is quite the contrary. 



