A GARDEN DIARY 211 



the cradle of the human race it would alone have 

 a dim and reverential feeling connected with it. 

 But there are other reasons. . . . The mere 

 antiquity of Asiatic things, of their institutions, 

 histories, modes of faith, etc., is so impressive, 

 that to me the vast age of the race and name 

 overpowers the sense of youth in the individual. 

 A young Chinese seems to me an antediluvian 

 man renewed. ... It contributes much to these 

 feelings that Southern Asia is and has been for 

 thousands of years, the part of the earth most 

 swarming with human life. The great officina 

 gentium. Man is a weed in these regions. The 

 vast empires into which the enormous population 

 of Asia has always been cast, give a further 

 sublimity to the feelings associated with all 

 Oriental names and images. In China, over 

 and above what it has in common with the rest 

 of Southern Asia, I am terrified by the modes 

 of life, by the manners, and the barrier of utter 

 abhorrence and want of sympathy, placed be- 

 tween us by feelings deeper than I can analyse. 

 I could sooner live with lunatics, or brute 

 animals." 



Now for the dream proper. 



" Under the connecting feeling of tropical heat 

 and vertical sunlights, I brought together all 

 creatures, birds, beasts, reptiles, all trees and 

 plants, usages and appearances, that are found 

 in all tropical regions, and assembled them 



