Burnside. 1 1 1 



combined, or at least discharge the double function. They 

 are developed very differently, too, from true leaves. You 

 see that the tip of this young bracken frond is folded round 

 and round, and the base of the frond unfolds and develops 

 before the apex. Now, in true leaves, the apex of the leaf 

 unfolds first, and development takes place from the apex to- 

 wards the base. It is evident, therefore, that the frond is 

 not a leaf. 



In parts of New Zealand and Australia, ferns grow to the 

 height of trees, and sometimes have a trunk forty or fifty 

 feet in height, surrounded with a crown of feathery fronds. 

 What ! we have reached the Antipodes in our day-dream- 

 ing, and with this beautiful scene before us. We step into- 

 the bed again, and, after going a short distance, stand on a 

 rocky boulder, firmly embedded in it, and gaze back at the 

 beautiful picture of which we can now get a wider view. 



But we must not stop. The bed contracts ; the rocks rise 

 perpendicularly on either side of us ; we make our way over 

 the broken rocks scattered along the bed ; the descent be- 

 comes deeper ; the water whirls and gurgles noisily ; and 

 at last we have to leave the bed and climb up to the rough- 

 made path which edges its bank. A break in the rocky 

 bank brings the burn into view again, as it tumbles over 

 another perpendicular rock into a large hollow basin, several 

 feet in depth. From here it starts off once more, the rocky 

 sides sometimes more, sometimes less steep and precipitous, 

 and there, far below, we can see that its bed gets wider, 

 shrubs get more numerous but trees rather fewer in num-' 

 ber, until at last we see the burn emerging from its rocky 

 prison house, and in its wider bed we know that it gurgles 

 musically over the rocks and pebbles, whilst still farther on 



