THE CITY OF SYDNEY. 



201 



extend from the Domain boundary on the one side to Government House on the other. 

 The o,,cn spaces chiefly of soft and shining green, here and there a clump of 

 blossoming shrubs, or brilliant-tinted flowers and leaves give colour and variety m the 

 landscape, while below, the dense foliage of the lower garden rises in beautiful contrast. 

 Bordering the path leading down are some pieces of statuary- copies of celebrated 

 w o r k s, C a n o v a ' s 

 " Boxers " and the 

 " Apollo Belvidere " 



beino 



conspicuous 



amongst them ; while 

 farther on a " Venus 

 di Medici " gleams 

 snowy-white amid the 

 glossy foliage. Below 

 the terraces, and 

 w i t h i n the ample 

 shade which covers 

 all the walks of the 

 western slope of this 

 old garden, are the 

 larger beauties of the 

 lordlier zones ; palms 

 rise in clumps, small- 

 fruiting cocoa-nuts 

 and sago-trees from 

 Brazil lift their 

 feathery plumes high 

 towards the sky, and 

 giants of the yucca 

 tribe put out their 

 flower-spikes. In the 

 thickets close by are 

 rare plants from New 

 Zealand, and richly- 

 foliaged shrubs culled 

 from the gullies and 



THE LILY POM), HOTAMt (i.\ KI IKNS. 



ravines of our eastern shores. By the side of the creek a great variety of Australian 

 ferns have been planted ; they grow to perfection in the rich soil, and beneath the 

 undisturbed shade of the higher trees. In little groves wild duck and teal sport 

 in happy security ; and just beyond the rustic bridge that spans the creek is the 

 giant pine, which from this point is seen to great advantage. Indeed, as the tree 

 of a foreign forest, towering over all those of native growth, it stands symbolical 

 of the established supremacy of immigrants of foreign sap over the old native race. 

 Since it was planted many men of colonial fame have sat and moralized beneath 



