THE AMAZON VALLEY. 
441 
within reach, their flowers and fruit, which, in the forest, 
only grow far up on the topmost branches. Bright 
flowers and green foliage combine their charms, and 
climbers with their flowery festoons cover over the bare 
and decaying stems. Yet, pick out the loveliest spots, 
where the most gorgeous flowers of the tropics expand 
their glowing petals, and for every scene of this kind, 
we may And another at home of equal beauty, and with 
an equal amount of brilliant colour. 
Look at a field of buttercups and daisies, — a hill-side 
covered with gorse and broom, — a mountain rich with 
purple heather, — or a forest-glade, azure with a carpet 
of wild hyacinths, and they will bear a comparison with 
any scene the tropics can produce. I have never seen 
anything more glorious than an old crab -tree in full 
blossom ; and the horse-chesnut, lilac, and laburnum will 
vie Avith the choicest tropical trees and shrubs. In the 
tropical waters are no more beautiful plants than our 
white and yellow water-lilies, our irises, and flowering- 
rush; for I cannot consider the flower of the Victoria 
regia more beautiful than that of the Nymphcea alha^ 
though it may be larger ; nor is it so abundant an orna- 
ment of the tropical waters as the latter is of ours. 
But the question is not to be decided by a comparison 
of individual plants, or the effects they may produce in 
the landscape, but on the frequency with which they 
occur, and the proportion the brilliantly coloured bear to 
the inconspicuous plants. My friend Mr. B. Spruce, 
now investigating the botany of the Amazon and Bio 
Negro, assures me that by far the greater proportion 
of plants gathered by him have inconspicuous green or 
