32 THE BEAUTIES OP NATURE chap. 



moist grass, a cluster of cypresses — or when- 

 ever your eye lights upon the one wood of the 

 district, the long olive grove of the Cephissus, 

 you are struck with a sudden sense of richness, 

 and feel as if the splendours of the tropics 

 would be nothing to this." 



Most travellers have been fascinated by the 

 beauty of night in the tropics. Our even- 

 ings no doubt are often delicious also, though 

 the mild climate we enjoy is partly due to the 

 sky being so often overcast. In parts of the 

 tropics, however, the air is calm and cloud- 

 less throughout nearly the whole of the year. 

 There is no dew, and the inhabitants sleep on 

 the house-tops, in full view of the brightness 

 of the stars and the beauty of the skj?^, which 

 is almost indescribable. 



" II faisait," says Bernardin de St. Pierre of 

 such a scene, " une de ces nuits delicieuses, si 

 communes entre les tropiques, et dont le plus 

 abile pinceau ne rendrait pas le beaute. La 

 lune paraissait au milieu du firmament, en- 

 tour^e d'un rideau de nuages, que ses rayons 

 dissipaient par degr^s. Sa lumiere se r^pan- 

 dait insensiblement sur les montagnes de I'ile 



