A GARDEN DIARY 211 
the cradle of the human race it would alone have 
a dim and reverential feeling connected with it. 
But there are other reasons. . . . The mere 
antiquity of Asiatic things, of their institutions, 
histories, modes of faith, etc., is so impressive, 
that to me the vast age of the race and name 
overpowers the sense of youth in the individual. 
A young Chinese seems to me an antediluvian 
man renewed. . . . It contributes much to these 
feelings that Southern Asia is and has been for 
thousands of years, the part of the earth most 
swarming with human life. The great officina 
gentium. Man is a weed in these regions. The 
vast empires into which the enormous population 
of Asia has always been cast, give a further 
sublimity to the feelings associated with all 
Oriental names and images. In China, over 
and above what it has in common with the rest 
of Southern Asia, I am terrified by the modes 
of life, by the manners, and the barrier of utter 
abhorrence and want of sympathy, placed be- 
tween us by feelings deeper than I can analyse. 
I could sooner live with lunatics, or brute 
animals.” 
Now for the dream proper. 
“Under the connecting feeling of tropical heat 
and vertical sunlights, I brought together all 
creatures, birds, beasts, reptiles, all trees and 
plants, usages and appearances, that are found 
in all tropical regions, and assembled them 
