THE WIND IN THE TREES 41 



In the cold weather, from the tops of their elm-like 

 heads, to the tips of their outermost branches, they 

 are covered with drooping bunches of pure-white 

 scented snowdrops; this is also oddly called the 

 Tulip tree. It is good to string your hammock 

 under one and lie there one fine morning inhaling 

 its sweetness. Then if you close your eyes, and 

 listen to the wind in the tops of the old Casuarinas, 

 50 feet high, you can fancy you are thousands and 

 thousands of miles away from this " land of regrets." 

 The sound is that of waves on a seashore, with the 

 dash of the water on the beach, and the slow swirl 

 of the dragging pebbles. How it makes one long 

 to be there ! I like the Casuarinas, though they 

 are bad gardeners, and suck up all the moisture in 

 the earth for some long distance round their roots, 

 so that nothing can possibly live near them ; some- 

 times in the early morning they weep it all back 

 copiously like rain. 



Another very favourite tree of mine is the 

 Bauhenia. It has heart-shaped leaves, and a flower 

 that comes out like a delicate mauve orchid with a 

 sweet scent in October. I am glad they do not all 



bloom together, these trees ; because then there is 



F 



