THE KII COAST. 139 



built round a miniature garden, where ponds, tiny 

 streams, cascades, small forests, wild scenery and 

 flower gardens, are all represented with wonderful taste 

 and accuracy. Live birds, such as wild ducks and 

 storks, are often introduced. Fish in the ponds come 

 regularly to be fed. Sometimes there are men, women, 

 and children, modelled in china, and arranged in 

 different groups, representing a picnic or pleasure 

 party ; others standing on the edge of a cliff or moun- 

 tain peak, supposed to be enjoying a view of wUd 

 scenery ; models of temples, with priests attending to 

 the gardens, or sitting down in some favourite nook in 

 the grounds. In fact, the variety of objects represented 

 in these miniature gardens is endless, and all with won- 

 derful accuracy. Oak-trees six or eight inches high, and 

 others in similar proportion. The mandarin duck, with 

 his beautiful plumage, is a favourite bird for these tiny 

 ponds. The stork and white heron appear at once to 

 be at home if caught, pinioned, and turned into how- 

 ever small an enclosure, and scarcely more beautiful 

 objects can be imagined than these gi-aceful birds ; the 

 heron with its snow-white plumage, or the stork in his 

 more sombre grey colouring, as they walk quietly about 

 these exquisite little gardens, or stand like a statue by 

 the water's edge. 



