is indeed very pretty, but
grows at such a distance apart that the ground is
everywhere visible between, and this is a wretched covering
for luxuriant Ceylon.

"At two o'clock in the afternoon we arrived at the station,
Perideniya, the nearest one to Kandy. The famous botanical
garden lies in its neighbourhood, and there I had to visit
the superintendent of the garden, Dr. THWAITES. This
elderly, but still active and enthusiastic naturalist is
exceedingly interested in botanical research, and very
obliging to all who work in that department. He received me
in a very friendly manner, and it was due to him that the
programme of my visit there was so full.

"A botanic garden in Ceylon must naturally be something
extraordinary. Nowhere else can grander or more luxuriant
vegetation be seen than here. The garden has been
especially famous for the number of different varieties of
trees of immense size which it can show. Besides, all
possible better known plants are to be found here,
cultivated in the finest specimens. Spices and drugs were
specially well represented. Here long tendrils of the black
pepper-plant wound themselves up the thick tree-stems, here
the cardamon and the ginger flourished, here the pretty
cinnamon, camphor, cinchona, nutmeg, and cocoa trees made a
splendid show, here I saw a newly gathered harvest of
vanilla. The abundance of things to be seen, learned, and
enjoyed here was incredible. However, the next day I
determined on the advice of Dr. Thwaites to make a tour up
to the mountain localities proper, in order there to get a
better sight of the lichen flora of Ceylon.

[Illustration: A COUNTRY PLACE IN CEYLON. ]

[Illustration: HIGHLAND VIEW IN THE INTERIOR OF CEYLON. Coffee
Plantations; Adam's Peak in the back-ground. ]

"I now travelled south partly by rail, partly by coach,
until in the evening I found myself lodged at a
'rest-house' at Rambodde, a thousand metres above the sea,
at about the same height accordingly as that at which trees
cease to grow in southern Norway. This tropical mountain
land reminds one a little, in respect of the contours of
the landscape, of the fells of Norway. Here too are found
league-long deep valleys, surrounded by high mountain
summits and ranges with outlines sharply marked against the
horizon. But here