SINGING-BIRDS AND FLOWERS, ETC. 179 



ing trees, evidently enjoying the tranquil scene across 

 the lake. Next day a gentleman would arrive, and 

 after much toil, had reached the summit of the largest 

 and highest mountain, where he now rested, looking far 

 across the country below. I had this garden for a long 

 time on board, and it was a never-failing source of 

 amusement and entertainment. 



In my own garden in Gloucestershire I have plenty 

 pretty button-shaped flowers, which we call chrysan- 

 themums. In Japan this flower is grown in a very 

 different way. On a single stalk, about four feet long, 

 a single flower is allowed to remain, which in due time 

 has become as large as a good-sized cabbage, or twenty 

 to twenty-four inches in circumference. The long 

 petals curl over each other, forming a charming great 

 white ball. I have often been perfectly astonished at 

 the size and beauty of the flowers. The sweet-scented 

 daphne is in every Japanese garden, and very pleasant 

 its odour is. 



Fruit is both scarce and bad in this country ; 

 hardly any appears to come to perfection. I have 

 shot numbers of pheasants in the peach-orchards, and 

 have seen deer scampering about amongst the trees ; but 

 to find a single peach fit to eat was a difficult matter 

 — nineteen out of twenty had a hungry insect in the 



