166 



WHAT MR. DARWIN SAW. 



AUSTRALIA. 



thus lose, perhaps, one of the most glorious (though to our 

 eyes common) spectacles in the world the first bursting into 

 full foliage of the leafless tree. They may, however, say that 



CAPE TOWN, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



we pay clearly for this by having the land covered with mere 

 naked skeletons for so many months. This is too true; but 

 our senses thus gain a keen relish for the exquisite green of 

 the spring, which the eyes of those living within the tropics, 

 sated during the long year with the gorgeous productions of 

 those glowing climates, can never experience. The greater 

 number of the trees, with the exception of some of the blue- 

 gums, do not attain a large size; but they grow tall and 

 tolerably straight, and stand well apart. The bark of some 

 of the Eucalypti falls annually, or hangs dead in long shreds, 

 which swing about in the wind, and give to the woods a deso- 



