34 A BOTANIST IN THE GREAT AFRICAN WILDS. 



" When walking quietly along the shady pathways, and 

 admiring each successive view, I wished to find language to 

 express my ideas. Epithet after epithet was found too weak 

 to convey to those who have not visited the intertropical 

 regions, the sensations of delight which the mind experiences." 



"How great would be the desire in every admirer of 

 Nature to behold, if such were possible, the scenery of 

 another planet! Yet to every person in Europe it may be 

 truly said that at the distance of only a few degrees from 

 his native soil, the glories of another world are opened to 

 him. In my last walk I stopped again and again to gaze on these 

 beauties, and endeavoured to fix in my mind for ever an 

 impression which I knew sooner or later must fail. The 

 form of the orange tree, the cocoa nut, the palm, the mango, 

 the tree fern, and the banana, will remain clear and separate ; 

 but the thousand beauties which unite these into one perfect 

 scene, must fade away. Yet they will leave, like a tale 

 heard in childhood, a picture full of .indistinct but most 

 beautiful figures." (Description of scenery at Bahia, Brazil, 

 and reflections thereon). * 



Dr. Georg Schweinfurth (German Traveller and Explorer, 

 Scientific Botanist and Artist). 



" Already have I expressed my happiness at having reached 

 the object of my cherished hopes my satisfaction at thus 

 finding life to be with me an idyll of African Nature. My 

 health was unimpaired, and never before had I been less 

 hindered in prosecuting my pursuits. I was left alone in the 

 temple of creation. The people around me were somewhat 

 embarrassing, but it did not much disturb the inner repose 

 of this still life. In sickness everything is sad, and the craving 

 for home is not to be suppressed ; but whoever, in the robust- 

 ness of health, can imbibe the fresh animation of the wilderness 

 will find that it stamps something of its unchanging verdure 



* Journal of Researches, etc., by Chas. Darwin, Extracts from pp. 495 

 to 497. 



