AUGUST. 171 



good substitute for the feathers of the bird. 

 Its leaves, besides being eaten by cattle, are 

 useful for thatching cottages, and for making 

 mats and baskets. London also mentions that 

 this is the plant which Rubens, and tlie later 

 Italian painters, have represented in their pic- 

 tures as the reed which was borne by the 

 Saviour, when, in cruel mockery, it was given 

 as a sceptre. Another writer says of this 

 plant, " A weaver of velvet told me that, at 

 Spitalfields and other places, the head of this 

 rush is used for cleaning their work in prefer- 

 ence to a common brush. Since then, being 

 in the neighbourhood of Blackheath, I met a 

 man carrying a large bundle of them, and upon 

 inquiry, he told me that they would be sold to 

 the poor at one penny each, for the purpose of 

 a hat-brush. I see no reason to doubt their 

 utihty in either case, for their softness and elas- 

 ticity render them very applicable to these pur- 

 poses." This reed is very abundant in the 

 swamps of New Zealand, and much used by 

 the natives for thatching roofs. 



The flowers which find their places by the 

 shores of the ocean, though never numerous, 

 are as many as in the former mouths. The 

 horned poppy {Ghaichim luteian) yet showers 

 down its frail yellow petals on the mass of sea- 

 weed. The several kinds of sea southernwood 

 (Arteinisia) are dressed in their green flowers ; 

 the thrift still lends its pink tufts to adorn the 

 crevices of the rocky clifF; and the saltwort 

 {Suncorma herbacea) is so general on ovir 



