of a French naturalist--TOURNEFORTIA ARGENTA. The leaves, crowded at the
ends of thick branchlets, are covered with soft, silky hairs of a silvery
cast, which reflect the sun's rays. It would be gross exaggeration to say
that the finely shaped shrub shines like silver, for the general hue of
the foliage is sage green, but that it has a silvery cast, which in
certain lights contrasts with the dull gold of its neighbours, is an
alluring fact which must not be strained. Moreover, the shrub covers an
almost perfect circle, about thirty feet in diameter, and since it is not
more than ten feet high, its form is as if Nature had designed the
creation of a circus of shadow, dense and cool, for the comfort of
mankind.

At high-water mark stands one of the Terminalias with big terminal light
green leaves, musty flowers, and purple fruit--gold, silver, and purple in
close array--while over the sand the goat-footed convolvulus sends long,
succulent shoots bearing huge pink flowers complementary to the purple of
the beach-pea (CANVALIA OBTUSIFOLIA).

Under the she-oaks young coral trees have sprung up, but the red flowers
are of the past, and so also have the gold and white of the Calophyllums
disappeared. But in the evening the breeze brings whiffs of a singular
savour, pleasant yet not sweet, which comes from the acre or two of
native hops a few yards back. The bruised leaves thereof give off
anything but an attractive odour, yet the faint natural exhalations from
the plant are sniffed eagerly and to the revivification of pleasant
recollections.

Among a crowd of massive shrubs sprawls a plant of loose habit known as
CAESALPINA BONDUCELLA, the long clinging branches and the pods of which
are armed with hooked prickles. It is a plant of wide range, for the