COSMOS. 



so deeply rooted among&t the Chinese, ^cacls Ivien-long to 

 give a careful delineation of the physiognomy of inanimate 

 nature, for which the Greeks and Romans evinced so little 

 feeling. The form of the separate trees, the character of their 

 ramification, the direction of the branches, and the form of 

 the foliage, are all dwelt on with special predilection.*' 



If I have not yielded to the distaste for Chinese literature, 

 which is, unfortunately, disappearing too slowly from amongst 

 us, and if I have dwelt too long on the consideration of the 

 delineations of nature met with in the works of a contemporary 

 of Frederick the Great, I am so much the more bound to 

 ascend seven and a half centuries further back into the annals 

 of time, in order to refer to the poem of the Garden, by See- 

 ma-kuang, a celebrated statesman. The pleasure-grounds 

 described in this poem are certainly much crowded by build- 

 ings in the fashion of the old Italian villas, but the minister 

 likewise celebrates a hermitage, which is situated amongst 

 rocks and surrounded by high fir-trees. He extols the open 

 view over the broad River Kiang, crowded with vessels, and 

 expects, with contentment, the arrival of friends, who will 

 read their verses to him, since they will also listen to his 

 compositions.! See-ma-kuang wrote about the year 1086, 

 when, in Germany, poetry was in the hands of a rude clergy, 

 and was not even clothed in the garb of the national tongue. 



At this period, and probably five hundred years earlier, the 

 inhabitants of China, of Eastern India, and Japan, were 

 already acquainted with a great variety of vegetable forms. 

 The intimate connection which existed amongst the different 

 Buddhist sacerdotal establishments contributed its influence 

 in this respect. Temples, cloisters, and burying-places, were 

 surrounded by gardens, adorned with exotic trees, and covered 

 by variegated flowers of different forms. Indian plants 

 \vere early diffused over China, Corea, and Nipon. Siebold, 

 whose writings give a comprehensive view of all matters 

 referring to Japan, was the first to draw attention to the 

 cause of the mixture of the floras of remotely separated 

 Buddhist lands 4 



* Eloge de la Ville de Moulcden, Pome compose par I'Empereui 

 Kien-long, traduit par le P. Amioi, 1770, pp. 18, 22-25, 37, 63-68, 

 73--b7, 104, and 120. 



f Memoires concernant les Chinois, t. ii. p. 643--650. 



J Ph. Fr. von Siebold, Kruidkundige Naamlipst van japawche en 



