352 
heaven, [but also] among the inhabitants of the earth 33 
(Dan. iv. 35) ; and the difficulty has vanished : the question 
becomes solely one of testimony. 
8. Let me illustrate this. Suppose an intelligent and culti- 
vated Siamese, who has previously had no intercourse with 
Europeans, suddenly, on some account or other, sent on a 
mission to England. He returns, and writes a report of his 
adventures. Perhaps he had seen one of the princely domains 
of our noblemen, and had been greatly struck with the 
gorgeous orchid-houses, many denizens of which were familiar 
to him from childhood. On this his narrative dilates; lie 
mentions one by one the magnificent oriental flowers by their 
Siamese names; avers that he saw these in the distant 
northern land; that multitudes of others, novel to him, but of 
like forms and habits, were associated with these ; that several 
hundreds were visible at one glance ; that all were growing 
healthfully; that no other plants but these aerial parasites 
were present ; no trees, no shrubs, no trailing briers, no thorny 
creepers, no tangling lianes, no grass, no weeds, no rubbish of 
any sort. He omits to state the conditions under which these 
facts occurred ; the search for the plants in their native regions, 
their collection by many hands, and their transmission . to 
England ; the glass houses ; the artificial heat ; the selection 
and accumulation of one special order; the exclusion of every- 
thing alien to it ; the learning, skill, and care bestowed upon 
the object ;— all this he does not mention ; perhaps he had 
little notion of it himself;' he simply and straightforwardly 
narrates the facts. _ ... 
9. Presently the critics in the Siam capital dissect his narra- 
tive. “With this tribe of plants we happen to be familiar; 
and here we shall have a vantage-ground for estimating the 
truth of his other statements. How, he has already said, and 
we well enough know, that England is a cold country, with 
severe frosts every year ; but these air-plants are found only m 
a hot climate; frost, or the approach to it, would certainly kill 
them. Here is contradiction the first ! But, again, he saw 
hundreds at one glance. How, we all know that, though they 
are common enough with us, to see half a dozen kinds together 
is very rare ; we should have to take a weary walk, indeed, 
before we had observed a hundred of these beautiful parasites. 
Then again, whoever heard of such plants growing, as this 
romancer pretends, by themselves alone : all the vegetation 
composed, forsooth, of air-flowers ! This fact alone stamps 
impossibility on the whole. Again, they are. almost wholly— 
many that he actually names are invariably, epiphytes, parasites 
on the trunks and limbs of our forest trees ; and mark . he 
