blacks, and followed on the track as fast as possible. Indeed, I and my companions frequently ran. Presently the lost man's footsteps diverged from the sandy shore, and took to the high land. We had proceeded more than a mile and a half when the black boy, who was mounted on the horse and following close at my heels, called, "Him! him!" and pointing to a figure, about seventy yards distant, stretched upon the grass beneath the shade. of a wild fig tree, and near a stream of fresh water. I recognized at once the stockman; but the question was, Was he living or dead? Having commanded the party to remain where they stood, I approached the body upon tiptoe. The man was not dead, but in a profound slumber, from which I would not awake him. His countenance was pale and haggard, but his breathing was loud and natural. I beckoned the party to approach, and then placed my forefinger on my lips as a signal that they were to keep silence. Within an hour the man awoke, and stared wildly around him. When he saw us he was under the impression that he had not been lost; but that, while searching for the horse, he had felt weary, laid down, slept, and had dreamed all that had really happened to him. Thus there was no sudden shock of unexpected good fortune, the effects of which upon him I at first dreaded. According to the number of days that we had been traveling, and the pace at which we had traveled, I computed that we had walked about one hundred and thirty-five miles; but, according to a map which I consulted, we were not more than eighty miles distant, in a direct line, from the station. On our way back it was most distressing to observe the motions of the stockman when he came to, or remembered the places where he had rested, eaten, drank, or slept during his hopeless wanderings through the wilds of the wildest country in the known world. The wattle trees, from which he had stripped the gum, the stream in which he had bathed, the swamp where he had discarded his boots, the tree on which he had carved his prayer, the spot where he had broken his pipe, that very spot upon which he first felt that he was lost in the bush; these and the poignant sufferings he had undergone had so great an effect upon him that by the time he returned to the station his intellect entirely deserted him. He, however, partly recovered; but, sometimes better, sometimes worse, in a few months it became necessary to have him removed to the government lunatic asylum. G HORTICULTURE, THE FIRST ART. ARDENING was the first occupation of man, and the most favored part of the world was the Garden of Eden-the garden of delights-the garden which Scripture tells us was planted by the Lord God;" where "he made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food ;" and we are told, moreover, that this garden was watered by a river, which sent its streams in four different directions: the simple outline thus given fur nished Milton with the materials for the exquisite description, in his "Paradise Lost," of the happy abode. We may well, indeed, feel that he has not outstepped the reality when we remember that it was a spot so eminently favored by our heavenly Father, as to be selected by him as a fitting home for innocence and felicity. "And the Lord put man into the garden, to dress it and to keep it;" from this we learn that the art of gardening was practiced before the fall of man. That it was then a task comparatively easy we know, as it was after the fall, when the curse was pronounced on the ground, that it brought forth thistles and thorns, and that "in the sweat of his face" man was to eat his bread. Even after this curse, when the change had passed over the earth, the divine origin of the occupation was proved by its being still blessed to man, God giving the increase, and sweetening the labor by its salutary effects, and by the continual interest which it excites. Not only has it been subservient to the wants of man, but a means of cultivating his taste. A taste for ornamental gardening appears to be inherent in man; indeed, from the exquisite pleasure which is provided for his senses in the beauty and fragrance of plants, it could not be otherwise. Perhaps the strongest evidence of the pleasure which gardens have always afforded is their having been a favorite subject with the most celebrated ancient writers. So delightful are they to the poetical imagination, that the ancients had their fabulous gardens of delight, and Mohammed's paradise is in the midst of groves and flowers. Some centuries before the Christian era the Greeks had written on gardening: it was a theme with Hesiod, Homer, Theophrastus, (who wrote a treatise on plants,) and Xenophon. Though there is no Roman author who wrote exclusively on gardening, yet we find it noticed by various authors in their works. We might quote largely from Varro, from Cato; from Pliny, who wrote a treatise on natural history; and from Columella, who wrote on agriculture and trees. If we turn to the pages of the Roman poets, Martial, Virgil, and Horace, we shall find that they deemed rural occupations a subject worthy of their muse. From various passages gardens might be dispensed with: but the inhabitants have their own exclusive gardens, laid out according to their own taste. They are destitute of terraces, parterres, and statuary; there is a basin of water in the center of the garden, and a similar one at each side; the space between them is covered with a profusion of flowers in natural confusion, with roses and fruit-trees interspersed among them. The Persians do not walk in their gardens, but merely seat themselves where they have a view of the lovely scene, to inhale the balsamic air and delicious perfume. The Persian gardens have been celebrated from the earliest time: according to Xenophon, they were cultivated for beauty as well as for fruit; he tells us, in his "Memorabilia," that "wherever the Persian king, Cyrus, resides, or whatever place he visits in his dominions, he takes care that the paradise shall be filled with everything, both useful and beautiful, which the soil could produce." From Plutarch we learn that the younger Cyrus was found in his garden, or paradise, at Sardis, by Lysander, who was astonished at its beauty. Cyrus told in some of these authors we learn that the influence of magic was believed to be favorable to the culture of plants, and superstitious rites were performed to accelerate their growth and to secure them against the attacks of caterpillars. It was directed that women should "be rarely admitted where cucumbers and gourds were planted, for commonly green things languish and are checked in their growth by their handling of them." The first notice of a garden, in the his-him that he had planned it all himself, and torical records of Rome, is that of Tarquinius Superbus, five hundred and thirtyfour years before the birth of Christ. Livy and Dionysius allude to one which adjoined the royal palace, which was embellished with a profusion of flowers, in which the rose and the poppy predominated. Among the paintings found at Herculaneum are a few tracings of gardens; they are, we are told, "small square inclosures, formed by trellis work and espaliers, and regularly ornamented with vases, fountains, and caryatides, elegantly symmetrical." Persia is celebrated for its flowers; the fields toward Media and the northern frontiers of Arabia are one sheet of blossoms; the flowers most prized by us flourish there without any culture. The jonquils about Ispahan are wild, and are in flower all the winter; lilies, violets of every hue, lily of the valley, gilly flowers, and jasmines, are of beauty and fragrance far surpassing those of Europe. Sir John Chardin was particularly struck by the beauty of the peach-trees, so completely covered with flowers as to obstruct the view through their branches. Hyrcania is one entire and continued parterre, from September till the end of April: in such a country it might be supposed that flower worked in it sometimes with his own hands. It is an extraordinary fact that the Jewish gardens of the present day are similar to those in the same countries three thousand years since; the same trees and plants, spoken of by Moses, by Diodorus and Herodotus, without the introduction of any other: the same terraces, walks, and towers, as in the days of Solomon and his successor, are still to be seen. The variety of flowers in Japan equals that of Persia. They plant the most beautiful among them into their gardens, and improve them by culture. The blossoms of the sloe are brought to wonderful perfection by cultivation; they attain the size of a double-rose, and are in such profusion that the whole tree looks as if covered with snow speckled with blood. According to law, no man may cut down a tree without permission from a magistrate; and whenever one is felled, another must be planted in its stead. The Grove of Orentes, in Syria, must have been enchanting; it was nine miles in circumference. From Gibbon's description we learn that " its laurels and cypress formed, in the most sultry seasons, a cool and impenetrable shade. A thousand streams of the purest water, issuing from temples, altar statues, and monuments, where some of their departed heroes reposed, it would appear that these gardens had some resemblance to our modern cemeteries. The points to which particular attention was paid, in the Grecian gardens, were shade, coolness, fragrance, and repose. To such a degree of refinement had the discrimination of perfumes arrived, that it had actually become a matter of attention to place those plants in proximity whose perfumes blend most delicately together. Flowers were not merely a luxury to the Grecians, but they were considered absolutely necessary. Flowers, that lovely part of the creation-that seem the very pledges of a Father's love-have, indeed, been ever associated with the most striking events of life: they are woven into garlands for the happy and the prosperous; they are strewn upon the grave of the beloved, the offerings alike of joy and sorrow. every hill, preserved the verdure of the earth and the temperature of the air; the senses were gratified with harmonious sounds and aromatic odors, and the peaceful grove was consecrated to health and joy." Water is introduced into all the Eastern gardens, and the basins and cascades give a delicious coolness to the air. The singing of birds, too, was considered essential to the perfection of a garden; the time of the singing of birds is mentioned in Solomon's Song as a peculiarly delightful season. Russel mentions that in Syria there are abundance of nightingales, which not only afford much pleasure by their songs in the garden, but are also kept tame in the houses, and let out at a small rate, to such as choose it, in the spring; so that no entertainment is made in this season without a concert of singingbirds in wicker cages; from these cages a hint may have been taken for the erection of aviaries. In China, aviaries are in such common use, that no person of any consequence would be without one attached to his house. The gardens of Lucullus, near Baie, in the Bay of Naples, were of a most magnificent description, not surpassed by those of the Eastern monarch: they were situated in a mountainous district, considerably elevated; a vast sheet of water had been diverted into them. It was Lucullus who introduced the peach, apricot, and cherry, from the East. Pliny describes his gardens at his villa Laurentinum, in his letters; he appears to have delighted in them, for he speaks with enthusiasm of the beauty of his woods, his rich pasture lands, covered with cattle; the view of the distant mountains, the Baylosophers were crowned with flowers, and of Ostia, and the villas which lay scattered along its margin. So fond was he of this scene, that it is said he managed that there should be a view of it from every room in his house, and that even in his bath and on his couch he could command it. It has been told that some of the Grecian philosophers used to give their lectures under the shade of trees, while they inhaled the perfume of odoriferous plants. It was in a pleasant garden, which he had purchased for the sake of its seclusion and beauty, that Epicurus taught his system of philosophy; from this circumstance the Epicureans went by the name of the "Philosophers of the Garden." The gardens of Athens were remarkable for their classic elegance. Adorned with They were used alike on every occasion by the Grecians: their tables were covered with them at their banquets; they were worn, too, on these occasions, as a preservative against the effects of the fumes of wine, and to enliven the spirits, invigorate the thinking faculties, and purify the mind; such virtues were they supposed to possess! Baskets of flowers were always ready for sale at the markets; gar lands were hung on the gates during public rejoicings; and flowers were laid upon the altars, as the most fitting offerings. Various authors have noticed their general use. Priests decked themselves with flowers, youths wore them at their fêtes, phi they were woven round the warrior's head, as a badge of victory: these customs prevailed all over the East. There were florists at Athens, and subsequently at Rome, whose sole occupation it was to wreathe the crowns of flowers. To such a height did the passion at length arrive in Rome, that laws were passed prohibiting the use of crowns of flowers to such as were not privileged by their high station, or by the permission of the magis trate, to wear them. Cicero, in one of his speeches against Verres, the proconsul, upbraids him with having traveled through Sicily in a litter, reclining on roses, with a crown of flowers on his head and a garland at his back. Heliogabalus had his palace, and even the bed on which he lay, strewn with flowers. Cleopatra's passion for roses was so great that she paid a talent for those to ornament one supper. The floor of the apart ment in which the banquet was served was covered with roses to the depth of a cubit. Suetonius tells us that Nero lavished four millions of cesterces, about £30,000, on the roses for one entertainment. We have all heard of the tulip mania which raged throughout Europe for a time, so that these extravagances need not surprise us. Flowers have been made the vehicles for sentiment all over the world. The Persians communicate with their mistresses by means of bouquets. The poet has made the fond girl depend on the decision of a flower to ascertain whether her affection was returned. It is the custom in Switzerland, on the | birth of a child, to dispatch a maid to all the friends and relatives in the family with the good news, dressed in her very best, and carrying a large nosegay of the choicest flowers. That custom, once so prevalent in merry England, of ushering in the month of May with garlands and crowns of flowers, appeared to us most natural. During the dark ages the art of gardening would have been utterly lost but for the monks, who still practiced it, and even introduced it into tracts in Italy and Spain hitherto utterly neglected. The art of gardening was revived and encouraged by the Medici family, in Italy, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. The most famous gardens were those of Lorenzo de❘ Medici and the opulent Bernard Rucellai; they were laid out according to the geometrical plan of Pliny's Tusculum villa, a fashion adopted throughout Europe soon after. Forsyth tells us that in the villas about Rome, they persisted in " the formal symmetrical plan, architectural groves, devices cut in box, and tunes performed by the hydraulic organ." In the description of the gardens of the Villa Panfilé, we are told of laurel and ilex porticoes, of parterres, green scutcheons, and clipped coronets, vegetating over half an acre." Though Belvidere, the villa of Prince Borghese, at Frascati, is mentioned as being a most noble object, and commanding magnificent views; yet here, too, the love of forcing nature out of her own sweet course is seen. Behind the villa a stream is turned, to dash precipitately over a succession of terraces, and is tormented below into a variety of tricks: at the turning of a cock, you are assailed by water on every side. We are told by Loudon, to whom we are indebted for much information, that "water is squirted in your face from invisible holes; it darts up in a constellation of jets d'eau, and, descending in misty showers, presents against the sun a beautiful iris! Water is made to blow the trumpets of Centaurs and the pipes of a Cyclops; water plays the organ, makes the birds warble and the Muses tune their reeds, sets Pegasus neighing, and all Parnassus on music." The taste for introducing statues and urns into gardens was revived by Cardinal d'Este, about the same time. Anxious to design a residence and gardens for himself, he took the ground where the Emperor Adrian's villa had stood; here he happened to find a number of antiquities, which he distributed through his gardens, and thus the plan that he had accidentally adopted became the fashion throughout Europe. The approved style of gardening in Italy may be gathered from a poem published in the beginning of the seventeenth century, under the title of "L'Adama." Its author was a Florentine. It is illustrated by "prints representing Paradise, with clipped hedges, square parterres, trees formally lopped, straight walks, marble fountains, and water-works." Wilson speaks in great rapture of the gardens belonging to many of the villas on the Lake of Como; it, however, appears, from what he says, that they did not altogether escape the prevailing fashion; he tells us that "it is delightful to behold the lofty crags, frowning from the highly cultivated gardens, with hot-houses of exotic plants and ornamented summer-houses subduing the natural wildness of the scene." The fantastic devices that so long prevailed in the art of gardening could not have been executed without considerable labor and expense, and the obstacles and difficulties which have been overcome in the pursuit of the art is sufficient proof of the zeal with which it was followed. The hanging gardens of Babylon, ranked as one of the wonders of the world, were a striking example of laborious effort and skill; flights of steps led to terrace above terrace, till the height was equal to the walls of the city. The mold which had been conveyed to these terraces rested on a foundation of lead, supported on vast arches raised above other arches. The earth was so deep that the largest trees grew there, and every variety of plant that could beautify a garden embellished the terraces; water was ingeniously drawn up by an engine, so as to water the whole garden. How grateful must she have been, for whose sake the fairy-scene had been contrived, when she found herself in the midst of the trees and flowers of her native home! what fond recollections must have been wakened! but still dearer to her must have been the proof of that affection which had such tender regard for her early associations. to afford shelter to the cultivator has been observed. Should he wish, for any reason, to change his situation, he gets into his little vessel, and tows on his garden, if small, by himself; if large, with the help of others, and places it in the direction which is preferred. Cashmere, too, has its floating gardens. Inundations take place at the city, from the accumulation of weeds and mud, by which the depth of the lakes is diminished and their surface enlarged. Water-lilies, reeds, and a variety of aquatic plants," spring from the bottom of the lakes; and as the boats take the most direct lines through the waters to their place of destination, the waters are divided in some places by beds of sedges and reeds. The farmers, to turn these beds to profitable account, cut off the roots of the plant, about two feet under water; so that they are separated from the bottom, though retaining their situation. They are then pressed together and formed into long borders about two yards wide; the heads of the plants are then cut off, and laid upon the surface; it is then covered with a thin layer of mud, which sinks by degrees into the mass of tangled stalks. The The artificial gardens of Isola Bella, in the Lago Maggiore, had a foundation like that of the hanging gardens of Babylon. The barren rock, which in 1640 had not an inch of earth on its surface, and produced no vegetation but lichens and moss, became, under the direction of Vitaliano Boremeo, an object of surpassing beauty. Earth was brought from the banks of the lake, in such quantity as to cover ten terraces, raised on arches one above the other to the top of the island where the palace stands; the rarest and most beau-floating bed is kept in its place by a wiltiful plants thus form a pyramid that excites admiration and surprise. Orange and lemon trees are in great luxuriance; the grove of laurels is scarcely equaled in Europe, and two of them are said to be "the largest in existence." A romantic interest, too, like that connected with the gardens of Babylon, is said to attach to those of Isola Bella, for they also owed their existence to affection. Perhaps the most curious specimens of cultivation to be met with, are the floating gardens of Mexico. When the Mexicans were subdued by the Calhuan and Tepanican nations, and confined to the wretched little islands on the lake, they were without land to cultivate; but necessity (so aptly called the mother of invention) suggested the idea for the formation of floating fields and gardens. They laid the foundation with wicker-work, water plants, and mud. The boat containing one of these gardens is usually eight poles long by three broad. They first grew maize, and other useful plants; but afterward there were gardens among them where all kinds of flowers and herbs were successfully raised. A tree may sometimes be seen, and a hut low stake, which is driven through it at each end, which admits of its accommodating itself to the rise and fall of the water. A quantity of plants are disturbed from the bottom by means of a long pole thrust in among them, and turned round and round repeatedly; these are conveyed in the boat, and laid on the surface of the bed, when they are twisted into cones about two feet in diameter at their base, and about the same height. The top terminates in a hollow, which is filled with fresh mud, and at times with wood ashes, into which a number of cucumber and melon plants are transplanted from under the mats where they were reared. No gardens could have cost such an amount of labor as the elaborate pleasure grounds of the Chinese. The great object in their arrangement is to represent nature in a variety of aspects. Some travelers describe these gardens as "exhibiting a general confusion of the productions of verdant nature;" they are of vast extent, and represent a succession of scenes; the pleasing, the horrible, the enchanted. In the Scene of Horror, impending rocks, dark caverns, and impetuous cataracts are |