402 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



illustration when, in writing of the Victoria Garden, 

 Bombay/ he says, " Presently, a true Persian, in 

 flowing- robe of blue, and on his head his sheepskin 

 hat, ' black, glossy, curled, the fleece of kar-kul,* 

 would saunter in, and stand and meditate over every 

 flower he saw, and always as if half in vision. And 

 when at last the vision was fulfilled, and the ideal 

 flower he was seeking found, he would spread his 

 mat and sit before it until the setting of the sun, and 

 then pray before it, and fold up his mat again and 

 go home. And the next night, and night after 

 night, until that particular flower faded away, he 

 would return to it, and bring his friends in ever- 

 increasing troops to it, and sit and sing and play the 

 guitar or lute before it, and they would altogether 

 pray there, and after prayer still sit before it, sipping 

 sherbet, and talking the most hilarious and shocking 

 scandal, late into the moonlight ; and so again and 

 again every evening until the flower died. Some- 

 times, by way of a grand finale, the whole company 

 would suddenly rise before the flower, and serenade 

 it together, with an ode from Hafiz, and depart." 



In the Hindu religion bright-coloured or fragrant 

 flowers take a prominent place as offerings to the 

 gods, whilst the leaves or flowers of other plants are 

 held sacred for special reasons, either historical, or 



Sir G. C. M. Birdwood, in " Athenteum ."' 



