Nasu-no Take 



ko komban sugar way. Danna-san go long ?" " With all my 

 heart! Sayo! " And so it was arranged. 



In the oak-forest below the tea-house we sugared the trees. 

 When the night came on we went with our lanterns to the spot. 

 The black shadows clung to the woodland path. As the lanterns 

 went bobbing along the narrow way, each turn produced a 

 weird and beautiful effect. The gnarled old pines, the oaks and 

 the bamboos, the wild yams festooning the shrubbery, thrust 

 forth for a moment into relief against the universal darkness, 

 were fascinating to look upon. Here and there white lilies held 

 up their stately blossoms, and starry flowers, from which the 

 moths fled as we came along, bloomed everywhere. The effect 

 of moving lights in shrubbery and forest-growths is always 

 charming. 



But the captures of that night were more memorable than all 

 the witchery of the strange and beautiful scenery in the midst of 

 which we walked. The gems of our catch were a dozen perfect 

 specimens of the great Snowy Underwing, the most beautiful as 

 well as one of the rarest species of the splendid genus to which 

 it belongs. I never pull out the drawer in the cabinet, where 

 these things have rested full many a day since then, without 

 seeing visions and dreaming dreams of the happy past. How 

 much "globe-trotters" miss when they are not students of 

 nature! The memory of one such night spent in the wild woods 

 is worth the memory of weeks spent in palaces. 



" The insect legions, prank' d with gaudiest hues, 

 Pearl, gold and purple, swarm' d into existence. 

 Minute and marvellous creations these. 



some proudly shone 

 Like living jewels; some grotesque, uncouth, 

 And hideous ..... 

 Those lived deliciously on honey-dews, 

 And dwelt in palaces of blossomed bells. 

 Millions on millions, wing'd and plumed in front, 

 Fill'd the dim atmosphere with hum and hurry. 



Montgomery. Pelican Island. 



302 



