It
is therefore to be hoped that sulphur fumes are not as injurious to
animal as they evidently are to vegetable life. As we drew nearer to
the shore we could distinguish Madame Cousino's house, in the midst of
a park on the summit of a hill, and surrounded on all sides by
beautiful gardens. Every prominent point had a little summer-house
perched upon it, and some of the trees had circular seats built round
their trunks half-way up, approached by spiral staircases, and
thatched like wigwams. The general aspect of the coast, which is a
combination of rich red earth, granite cliffs, and trees to the
water's edge, is very like that of Cornwall and Devonshire.
We had scarcely dropped our anchor before the captain of the port came
on board, and told us we were too far from the shore to coal, which
was our special object in coming here; so up went the anchor again,
and we steamed a few hundred yards further in, and then let go close
to the shore, in deep water. Captain Moeller waited to go ashore with
us, introduced our steward to the butcher and postmaster of the place,
and then accompanied us to Madame Cousino's gardens.
It was a steep climb up the hill, but we were well rewarded for our
labour. Tended by over a hundred men, whose efforts are directed by
highly paid and thoroughly experienced Scotch gardeners, these grounds
contain a collection of plants from all the four quarters of the
globe, and from New Zealand, Polynesia, and Australia.
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