SINGING-BIIIDS AND FLOWEES, ETC. 175 



with care. The sun's rays certainly never reached it. 

 Perhaps I remained too long admiring and wondering 

 why this plant grew here. At any rate, I never came 

 up with the bear ! 



I must not leave Yesso without mentioning its lilies 

 of the valley. I have walked through miles of these 

 lovely flowers, which grow to perfection on the lower 

 slopes of the hills, and just above the swampy tracts 

 of country which surround Hakodadi bay. Here also I 

 have walked by the side of hedges of honeysuckle, 

 sweet as our own, but much smaller in the flower. 

 Dark red burnet roses gi'ow on the sandy hillocks along 

 the shore, delicious in scent. Again, in the east, the 

 wild rose flourishes. I was one day wandering about 

 in the woods in the southern part of Yesso, in hopes of 

 picking up a fat hind, when the most delicious scent 

 appeared to spring from the ground. I looked around 

 everywhere, but without being able to find the sHghtest 

 clew to its origin. I then thought it came with the 

 gentle summer air, which was just sufficient to stir the 

 still leaves on the trees. I went straight to wind- 

 ward, the scent getting stronger every moment, and 

 suddenly came upon a large magnolia-tree covered 

 with blossom. 



The lilies of Japan are fairly known in England. 

 I say only fairly, as I do not think some of the rarer 



