56 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



panion of my daughters ; my sister knows how 

 particular I am about their intimacies and early 

 friendships." 



Though I Iwow his letter will be a most wel- 

 come one to you, I could not resist the pleasure 

 of telling 'you all this myself, dear Mamma. I 

 shall feel much more bright and cheerful now, 

 than I have felt, since I left you. 



23d. I can walk much more here than I 

 could in our own hot country, so I am out a 

 great deal every fine day. 



Yesterday, we all set out on a ramble through 

 the forest, that I might see some of its wildest 

 parts ; and the morning was so fine, that we 

 went much farther than my cousins had been 

 for a long time. There is but little of it that 

 answered to my ideas of a forest; some parts 

 are quite cleared away, and in others, the trees 

 are spoiled by being copsed. I must confess, that 

 some of the oaks are fine trees; but how insig- 

 nificant the best of them would appear by the 

 side of our noble bombax, or of our tall palms, 

 which spread their leaves like immense umbrel- 

 las. And besides, the green of the foliage is so 

 dull, when compared to the vivid tints of the trees 

 in Brazil ! We found, however, some very nice 

 and smooth grassy paths through the wood, of 

 which I might say 



All around seems verdure meet 

 For pressure of the fairies' feet. 



