SOUTH AMERICA. 109 



arrangements beautiful; and its directeur, Mon- SECOND 



JOURNEY. 



sieur Martin, a botanist of first-rate abilities. This 

 indefatigable naturalist ranged through the East, 

 under a royal commission, in quest of botanical 

 knowledge; and during his stay in the western 

 regions, has sent over to Europe from twenty to 

 twenty-five thousand specimens, in botany and 

 zoology. La Gabrielle is on a far-extending 

 range of woody hills. Figure to yourself a hill 

 in the shape of a bowl reversed, with the buildings 

 on the top of it, and you will have an idea of the 

 appearance of La Gabrielle. You approach the 

 house through a noble avenue, five hundred toises 

 long, of the choicest tropical fruit-trees, planted 

 with the greatest care and judgment ; and should 

 you chance to stray through it, after sunset, when 

 the clove-trees are in blossom, you would fancy 

 yourself in the Idalian groves, or near the banks 

 of the Nile, where they were burning the finest 

 incense, as the queen of Egypt passed. 



On La Gabrielle there are twenty-two thousand 

 clove-trees in full bearing. They are planted 

 thirty feet asunder. Their lower branches touch 

 the ground. In general the trees are topped at 

 five and twenty feet high; though you will see 

 some here towering up above sixty. The black 

 pepper, the cinnamon, and nutmeg are also in 

 great abundance here, and very productive. 



While the stranger views the spicy groves of 

 La Gabrielle, and tastes the most delicious fruits 



