ause it are far overhead out of sight, lost in the
great over-shadowing crown of verdure."

"But," he adds, "the uniformity of climate which has led to this rich
luxuriance and endless variety of vegetation is also the cause of a
monotony that in time becomes oppressive." To quote the words of Mr.
Belt: "Unknown are the autumn tints, the bright browns and yellows of
English woods; much less the crimsons, purples, and yellows of Canada,
where the dying foliage rivals, nay, excels, the expiring dolphin in
splendour. Unknown the cold sleep of winter; unknown the lovely
awakening of vegetation at the first gentle touch of spring. A ceaseless
round of ever-active life weaves the fairest scenery of the tropics into
one monotonous whole, of which the component parts exhibit in detail
untold variety of beauty."

Siberia is no doubt as a rule somewhat severe and inhospitable, but M.
Patrin mentions with enthusiasm how one day descending from the frozen
summits of the Altai, he came suddenly on a view of the plain of the
Obi--the most beautiful spectacle, he says, which he had ever witnessed.
Behind him were barren rocks and the snows of winter, in front a great
plain, not indeed entirely green, or green only in places, and for the
rest covered by three flowers, the purple Siberian Iris, the golden
Hemerocallis, and the silvery Narcissus--green, purple, gold, and white,
as far as the eye could reach.

Wallace tells us that he himself has derived the keenest enjoyment from
his sense of colour:--

"The heavenly blue of the firmament, the glowing tints of sunset, the
exquisite purity of the snowy mountains, and the endless shades of green
presented by the verdure-clad surface of the earth, are a never-failing
source of pleasure to all who enjoy the inestimable gift of sight. Yet
these constitute, as it were, but the frame and background of a
marvellous and ever-changing picture. In contrast with these broad and
soothing tints, we have presented to us in the vegetable and animal
worlds an infinite variety of objects adorned with the most beautiful
and most varied hues. Flowers, insects, and birds are the organisms
most generally ornamented in this way; and their symmetry of form, their
variety of structure, and the lavish abundance with which they clothe
and enliven the earth, cause them to be objects of universal admiration.
The relation of this wealth of colour to our mental and moral nature is
indisputable. The child and the s