20 
BUITENZORG. 
to be had in its neighbourhood, Buitenzorg is 
chiefly remarkable for its botanic garden, perhaps 
the finest in the world, which surrounds the 
Governor-General's unofficial residence. Every 
morning finds us in these gardens. I have 
already learnt that if you wish any enjoyment of 
the tropical day you must be up before the sun, 
and get out when his light is just coming over 
the horizon. The freshness of this hour, when a 
soft wind blows, bearing sweetest scents, almost 
compensates for the great heat, which comes too 
soon, and which the dusk does not relieve, for the 
earth still sends off a heated air that makes the 
wind warm. II. has been in Buitenzorg several 
times ; he knows the gardens well, and shows 
me many beautiful details I might have passed 
unnoticed. On the right, the garden descends 
through groves and arbours, whose luxuriance of 
growth and richness of leaf are new to my eye, 
to its boundary stream, now (for it is the rainy 
season) rushing and foaming over the great 
boulders of rock which lie in its bed. Standing 
on the terrace by its bank, under a canopy of 
tall palms that form a shade from the early sun, 
and looking over the torrent to stretches of fresh 
green fields, we taste the sweetness of a tropical 
morning. A beautiful vista towards the other 
