SCENERY OF SINGAPORE. 



145 



strangers. "In them may be discovered the same lavish profusion of overhanging foliage 

 which we see around us on every side ; besides that, there are often hedges of wild 

 heliotrope, cropped as square as if built up of stone, and forming compact barriers of 

 green leaves, which yet blossom with gold and purple flowers/' Behind these, broad 

 bananas nod their bending leaves, while a choice flower-garden, a close-shaven lawn, and 



VIEW IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA. 



a croquet-ground, are not uncommonly the surroundings of the residence. If it is early 

 morning, there is an unspeakable charm about the spot. The air is cool, even bracing; 

 and beneath the shade of forest trees, the rich blossom of orchids are seen depending 

 from the boughs, while songless birds twitter among the foliage, or beneath shrubs which 

 the convolvulus has decked with a hundred variegated flowers. Here and there the slender 

 stem of the aloe, rising from an armoury of spiked leaves, lifts its cone of white bells 

 on high, or the deep orange pine-apple peeps out from a green belt of fleshy foliage, and 

 breathes its bright fragrance around. The house will invariably have a spacious verandah, 

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