from one point of the stem ; and D. peltata, (Smith), also figured 

 in the same work, vol. i., tab. 54, as D. lunata, from specimens 

 sent from Van Diemen's Land by Mr. Gunn ; leaves alternate, 

 those of the stem peltate ; radical ones uniform, cordate ; flowers 

 pink, in terminal racimes. Mark the beauty with which Clematis 

 microphylla " twines airily" around all the shrubs in her vicinity; 

 and further on how lovingly she embraces the trunk of that venerable 

 Eucalyptus, as a daughter her aged parent, comforting and protecting 

 him, in the decline of life, for the care with which he sheltered her 

 in youth. Now descend this dark hollow by the river's edge, observe 

 that little "queen of secrecy," the violet, Erpetion hederaceum, 

 linked hand in hand with her two graceful handmaidens, Adiantum 

 assimile (maiden hair), one of the loveliest of our native ferns, and 

 a small Hypnum. What handsomer carpet would ye have than 

 Kennedya prostrata, with its bright red pea-shaped flowers, and 

 the splendid spreading blue clusters of Hardenbergia coccinea, 

 mantling the ground on all sides. Listen to the sweet plaintive 

 note of that little red-breasted robin, perched fearlessly on yonder 

 Eurybia! — the shrill note of the kingfisher, as he skims up the 

 stream ! Watch the bright-eyed lizards as they creep hastily by ! — 

 the splendid plumage of our feathered friends! Mark well all 

 around you ! — and then let us ask, is there not religion in nature ? 

 Can ye not here look from nature up to nature's God ? 



"Here amid solitude and shade I wander, 

 Through the green aisles, and stretched upon the sod, 

 Awed, by the silence, reverently ponder 

 The ways of God." 



" There is no telling" (says Cheever, in his earnest, thoughtful, 

 little book, " Wanderings of a Pilgrim,") " how much more per- 

 fectly man communes with nature — how much more deeply, and 

 without effort, he drinks in the spirit of the meadows, the woods, 

 the running streams, and the mountains, going by them and among 

 them, as a friend with a friend. He seems to hear the very breath 

 of nature in her stillness ; and, sometimes, when the whole world 

 is hushed, there are murmurs come to him on the air, almost like 

 the distant evening song of angels. Indeed, the world of nature is 



