AMSTERDAM. 213 



and ride of the inhabitants. This is a large flat space, re- 

 sembling in shape the Meadows, or Hope Park, at Edin- 

 burgh. It is laid out in several long avenues, which di- 

 verge a little from one another ; and these are intersected 

 here and there by cross roads. Rows of tall forest- trees line 

 the principal avenues ; and a few under-trees and ever- 

 greens are interspersed. The principal baths of Amster- 

 dam are placed at the extremity of one of the walks. All 

 around the Plantagie are numerous neat small houses, — 

 " company-houses," as they are often called, being used 

 chiefly for giving dinners on a Sunday, or tea and coffee in 

 an afternoon. They are surrounded by little gardens, which 

 are neatly dressed. These retreats chiefly belong to mer- 

 chants engaged in business in Amsterdam, and who, during 

 the heats of summer, must be glad to escape thither from 

 the sickening stench of the capital. 



Botanic Garden. 



We visited the Hortus Medicus, which is also in this 

 pleasant quarter. We were charged with a letter from a 

 gentleman in Rotterdam to Mr John Pfister, the superin- 

 tendant of the garden, and were fortunate in finding him 

 at home. He obligingly walked through the garden with 

 us, and seemed to take much pleasure in shewing us all his 

 best plants. The grounds are but of small extent, not 

 nearly equal to the present Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, 

 (meaning the one at Leith Walk.) 



The Dutch having long possessed the Cape of Good 

 Hope, we naturally expected to meet with some fine old 

 specimens of plants peculiar to the southern point of Afri- 

 ca, and we were not disappointed.— A large specimen of 

 the Black Briony of the Cape, Tamus elephantipes, had a 

 singular appearance. The root-stock of the plant has com- 



