222 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



assist us in getting rid of this prejudice, to learn what kind 

 of feeling was associated with this practice by Spix and Yon 

 Martius in the following passage, which occurs in connec- 

 tion with the Bougainvillea. " Nature always preserves her 

 creations unimpaired by the influence of time, and they 

 survive all the monuments of human greatness. It was 

 therefore a very happy idea in botany to perpetuate the names 

 and merits of distinguished explorers, by impressing them 

 on flowers, whose races never become extinct/' 



Scarcely has the hum of the city died on our ears, when 

 we find ourselves, as if by magic, though still in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of a European city (as we may almost 

 call it), surrounded by a rich tropical vegetation, and other 

 sights which are always to be met with in company with it. 

 " Sometimes our eyes are attracted by gaily-coloured birds, 

 or splendid butterflies ; sometimes by the singular forms of 

 the insects, and the nests of wasps and termites hanging 

 from the trees ; or by the beautiful plants scattered in the 

 narrow valley, and on the gently sloping hills." 



"We can scarcely distinguish at first what most excites 

 our admiration, when at last we find ourselves within the 

 covert of the forest; but perhaps our attention is chiefly 

 attracted by the thickness of the trees, and the height to 



