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THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



IN THE CONSUL'S GARDEN. 



BY JULIA M. HOOPER, WEST BRIDGEWATER, MASS. 



Early in February, I arrived at Fayal, that 

 straoge, isolated, seagirt island which is a mass 

 of volcanic rock, red, white, gray and purple, 

 with valleys and lower hills covered with a thin 

 crust of earth; where flowers perennially bloom, 

 and art has not crowded nature out. 



My greatest enjoyment, while in Fayal, was 

 the hours that I spent in the garden of the 

 United States Consul, which I was kindly invited 

 to visit as often and as long as I liked, and I 

 was glad to avail myself of this privilege after 

 one glimpse into it. Before I had learned my 

 way about this verdurous and floral labyrinth, it 

 seemed to me perfectly bewildering in its beauty 

 and extent — such masses of bloom — such a va- 

 riety of rare and beautiful trees, shrubs and blos- 

 soming plants, and such abundance of joyous 

 bird song. 



Here I wandered and lounged, hour after hour 

 and day after day, and it was so extensive that 

 I was some weeks taking it all in. Sometimes 

 I was joined by some member of the family who, 

 after chatting awhile, left me English and Amer- 

 ican papers to read; the mail came in once in 

 two weeks. They also loaned me books to read 

 at the hotel; they were very kind, agreable and 

 cultivated people. 



The garden, some acres in extent, is surround- 

 ed by a wall about ten feet high, and on enter- 

 ing its enclosure, it seemsd as if one had been 

 suddenly translated to an entirely different re- 

 gion. Outside the garden there is scarcely a 

 tree to be seen on the island, and a garden like 

 this must be the result of much time, thought 

 and labor. 



The walls are half covered by ivy, trained 

 rosebushes and other vines, or entirely hidden 

 by a border of the pettosporum or incense tree, 

 having umbels of small, white, fragrant blossoms. 

 At intervals this shrub has been arranged in the 

 form of porte cocheres over a long sloping bor- 

 der walk and beside the walk grows the most 

 beautiful green moss inlaid with tiny leaves of a 

 reddifih hue. The leaves from a hidden vine 

 below, lay on the moss like the pattern on the 

 groundwork of a carpet. Some of the walks 



are bordered by the faya — a glossy leaved shrub, 

 from which the island received its name. The 

 blossom, similar to that of the pettosporum, has 

 an odor like that of our lilac. Other walks are 

 bordered by camellias loaded with their heavy, 

 richly colored blossoms,and reddening the ground 

 with the fallen petals. Some of these had a 

 delicate fragrance, which is unusual with the 

 camellia. 



Another walk has a border of the bird of par- 

 adise, vnth its strange, brilliant blossoms. Azal- 

 ias were there in abundant bloom, beautiful blue 

 hydrangeas, and the great red bells of hybiscus, 

 long banks of ivy and of blue periwinkle. 

 Groups of stately callas looked lovely on the 

 mossy ground under evergreen trees, and near 

 it was a pavillion of rock-work, with a flight of 

 stone steps, the whole thing covered with moss, 

 ivy and plants. There- was the Norfolk Island 

 pine, a rare and beautiful tree with the lower 

 branches lying flat on the ground, and leaves 

 like flag-seed; a handsome cedar whose branches 

 iorm a tent, and the eucalyptus tree with roots 

 above ground, bark hanging in ribbons, and 

 dropping a small, hard, green and brown fruit, 

 very much resembling buttons. Near the cen- 

 tre of the garden is a tableland on which stands 

 a small grove of cork-trees; and on the slope of 

 this land, is an open space, from which we look 

 down to the harbor and across to Mount Pico. 



In one corner of the garden is a beautiful 

 grotto, campletely surrounded by trees, shrubs, 

 blossoms, and vine-covered walls. The sides 

 of the grotto are triple terraced, each terrace 

 bordered by stone which is capped with moss 

 and ivy. At the entrance we decend moss- 

 cushioned stone steps, between ivy-capped bal- 

 ustrades. At the foot is an ivy tree with 

 branches as large as a man's arm, yet this was in 

 the beginning an ordinary ivy vine, which twin- 

 ed about a tree, until it killed it and became a 

 tree itself. As the branches grew large, the 

 leaves changed and lost their angles. In the 

 midst of the thick carpet of ivy under the tree 

 is a tank of beautiful purple fish. I was much 

 interested in the curious and varied forms of 

 palm trees; some looking like gigantic toadstools; 

 one with branches resembling the back-bone of 

 a fish, and another a tobacco worm; a short one 

 like a great yellow pincushion, with leaves, like 



