178 SINGING-BIKDS AND FLOWERS, ETC. 



diminutive gardens; but I hope a more detailed descrip- 

 tion here will not be considered tedious. These 

 gardens generally represent some particular scene, and 

 the locality of some favourite temple is frequently 

 chosen. The avenue leading to the shrine, the water, 

 the trees, are exactly carried out, all alive and grow- 

 ing ; the trees a few inches only in height, the running 

 river of similar proportions. Men's figures, propor- 

 tioned to the trees, are modelled and placed about, 

 just as seen when visiting the temples, or whatever 

 particular scenery the garden represents. Storks 

 and deer, or wild duck, all most absurdly life-like, 

 are also placed about, and the whole garden is 

 kept in this state perpetually. The art of nipping 

 back the proper shoots of these tiny dwarfed trees is 

 thoroughly understood. My Japanese servant made 

 one of these gardens for my cabin ; it was about three 

 feet long and two wide. It possessed a fine specimen 

 of the Pinus Massoniana, several species of palm, an 

 oak of grand proportions, a lake on which wild duck 

 were always to be found, and fish of two or three 

 species. Tortoises lived in the long grass by the 

 margin of the lake. Beautiful ferns sprang from the 

 lichen-covered rocks, and occasionally I found a lovely 

 female quietly seated under the shade of the overhang- 



