200 KEW GARDENS 



awakened at Kew when Sir William Hooker 

 gave her a glorious bunch from the first Amherstia 

 nobilis to bloom in England. With her father 

 she travelled much in Europe, and as far as 

 Syria and Egypt. Thrown on her own guidance 

 after his death and the marriage of her sister to 

 J. A. Symonds, she launched out for America 

 and the West Indies ; then took a tour round 

 the world and made some stay in India, bringing 

 back from time to time several hundred paintings 

 to be exhibited at South Kensington. When 

 she found her work appreciated, Miss North 

 resolved on presenting the whole collection to 

 the public, and at her own expense set about the 

 building of a gallery for it at Kew. Before this 

 was opened in 1882, she had been to Australasia 

 for fresh subjects ; then again set off to enrich 

 its contents from South Africa and the islands 

 of the Indian Ocean. The gallery had soon to 

 be enlarged, while its indefatigable founder made 

 her last expedition, this time to Chili. The 

 story of those peregrinations is told in her 

 Recollections of a Happy Life, that pass over 

 lightly the many hardships she braved in procur- 

 ing so much pleasure for her stay-at-home 

 countryfolk. But perilous climates and trying 



