chap, xvi ] ABSENCE OF FLOWERS. 373 



inhabit the more arid regions of Africa and India, in which 

 tropical vegetation does not exhibit itself in its usual 

 luxuriance. Fine and varied foliage, rather than gay 

 flowers, is more characteristic of those parts where tropical 

 vegetation attains its highest development, and in such 

 districts each kind of flower seldom lasts in perfection 

 more than a few weeks, or sometimes a few days. In 

 every locality a lengthened residence will show an abun- 

 dance of magnificent and gaily-blossomed plants, but they 

 have to be sought for, and are rarely at any one time or 

 place so abundant as to form a perceptible feature in the 

 landscape. But it has been the custom of travellers to 

 describe and group together all the fine plants they have 

 met with during a long journey, and thus produce the 

 effect of a gay and flower-painted landscape. They have 

 rarely studied and described individual scenes where vege- 

 tation was most luxuriant and beautiful, and fairly stated 

 what effect was produced in them by flowers. I have 

 done so frequently, and the result of these examinations 

 has convinced me, that the bright colours of flowers 

 have a much greater influence on the general aspect of 

 nature in temperate than in tropical climates. During 

 twelve years spent amid the grandest tropical vegetation, 

 I have seen nothing comparable to the effect produced on 

 our landscapes by gorse, broom, heather, wild hyacinths, 

 hawthorn, purple orchises, and buttercups. 



