In the temperate zones the case
is different--the vegetation there is not so dark or so rich, and
hence the rays of the declining sun, tinged of a red, purple, or
bright yellow colour, add most to the beauties of those climes.
When quietly walking along the shady pathways, and admiring each
successive view, I wished to find language to express my ideas.
Epithet after epithet was found too weak to convey to those who
have not visited the intertropical regions the sensation of delight
which the mind experiences. I have said that the plants in a
hothouse fail to communicate a just idea of the vegetation, yet I
must recur to it. The land is one great wild, untidy, luxuriant
hothouse, made by Nature for herself, but taken possession of by
man, who has studded it with gay houses and formal gardens. How
great would be the desire in every admirer of nature to behold, if
such were possible, the scenery of another planet! yet to every
person in Europe, it may be truly said, that at the distance of
only a few degrees from his native soil the glories of another
world are opened to him. In my last walk I stopped again and again
to gaze on these beauties, and endeavoured to fix in my mind for
ever an impression which at the time I knew sooner or later must
fail.
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