GARDEN GATES 
too, and tall, slender pillars, cypresses, or pines to mark 
the gateway. 
On the island of Corfu the Empress Elizabeth of Aus¬ 
tria built a great palace where she spent much of her time. 
It has a wonderful outlook over the purple Grecian sea 
and tawny islands, and behind it lie the gardens, a floor 
higher than the front of the building. These are attained 
from within through the main hall of the palace, or from 
without by a flight of marble steps with a balustrade of 
beautifully carved pillars, at whose turnings stand statues. 
Beyond the topmost steps a serpentine path adorned by 
columns wreathed in creepers winds and winds until it 
achieves an airy colonnade from which the gardens drop 
away in three terraces. This colonnade extends on two 
sides, with statues at regular intervals before it, looking 
out into the garden; a formal garden of date- and sago- 
palms and flaming beds, ordered paths and rhythmic 
fountains, where marble steps and temples and statues 
play a great part, white against a myriad tones of green, 
for the vines have flourished everywhere. 
In Spain the gardens are usually inclosed on three 
sides by the house to which they belong, while the open 
side has a wrought-iron fence with an arch or triple arch 
of stucco surmounted by small cupolas for the entrance; 
such, for instance, as obtain in the garden of the 
Alcazar at Seville. In Mexico we see the same 
characteristics; while often the only entrance is 
through the house, as in the old Borda gardens. Here 
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