32 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



Whitsunday Passage, are very beautiful, and 

 the same may be said of the vegetation of 

 New South Wales in the foothills of the Blue 

 Mountains. Yet Australian scenes inevitably 

 breathe a sadness that cannot be a figment of 

 imagination, since it appeals to all except those 

 who have made happy homes in the bush and 

 who affectionately regard it as the most in- 

 spiring forest landscape in all the world. The 

 visitor, on the other hand, who has no such 

 ties of sentiment to guide his judgment, finds 

 horrible sameness in the miles of gums and 

 wattles, with little or no undergrowth beneath ; 

 and indeed wherever the eucalyptus has been 

 given a new home in India, it has irretrievably 

 ruined the native scenery. No one will blame 

 Australians for their patriotism any more than he 

 would those loyal Dutchmen who would vote the 

 sand-dunes of Holland more impressive scenery 

 than the Trossachs. Yet if the wild Australian 

 bush has its chief attraction for Australians, the 

 splendour of the Botanic Gardens in the cities 

 shows that the native flora affords material that 

 Adam's art can weave into fairy scenes unfor- 

 gettable after twenty years. Not even the 

 famous gardens at Buitenzoorg, in Java, or the 

 better-known Cinnamon Gardens of Colombo, 

 rich in spreading fig-tree and feathery bamboo, 

 are more lovely than the Botanic Gardens of 

 Australia. 



