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art attempts to diversify aud adorn the most sldlfulfy arranged park, can bear no comparison
with them ni rural beauty or picturesque effect. (Ibid p 81 )
778. MiAicca abounds in beautiful and odoriferous trees and cxqidsite fruits From
remmiscences of a ^ s i t to Malacca, by Mr. Main, inserted in the Gardener’s M o n a ' e
we learn that the „Eschynomeiie grandiflòra, the 7&toaa índica, Barringtònrà sproìòsa’
many species of palms, and particuliu-ly the Michèlio Champàca, a showy and
odoriferous tree, give a character of great richness to the masse? of wood But the
catalogue of fruits transcends everything of the kind, perhaps, in E .d ia : for besides
the fruits common every where m the East, they have the Artocái-pus iuteoTifòIia
Anonas, and the Ciuica Papaya, in great perfection. Of the latter, it may be remarked
tliat though m the class piceteia, both male and female plauts produce fruit only tlie
female tree always beai-s the la rp s t. The fruit weighs about two pounds each ; m ly te
eaten with sugm-, as melons, but is chiefly used as kitchen fruit. But, of aU the
delicious fruits m India, none can equal, in purity and delicacy of pulp, richness of
»' ’■ ? rofrfftmg coolness of juice, those which follow. The maugosteou
Gaicimn Mangostana, is hero m the greatest perfection, growing wild in the woods
¥ most salubrious of fraits. Tho eatable part is a transparent puljj,
rarroimding tho seeds. Ih e ealyx and stigma arc botli permanent till the fruit is ripe.
There aie four other kinds of fmit, probably of the same genus; viz. the diiku au
egg-sliaped frait, about the size of an apricot, and, in flavour, little inferior to ’ the
mangosteen; the couraiigi, a small fruit, common at Malacca; the shell is brittle and
encloses one seed, surroimded by a spongy melting substance, of an agreeable’acid
flavour, l i e that of the tamannd ; tho baduo, or jambosteen, which is, in flavour and
internal structure, like the mangosteen ; the frait is white, with a sHght tincture of pink
Ymh'-’l™ n f» "® “ ftmichcs like the fruit of the potato; and the rambosteen,
Aeptahtim (burdock) lappaccum (bui-hke). TMs last-moiitioned frait is veiy beautiful
and has au ochmated capsule of a bright scarlet colour; the piüp is transparent and
niost delicious, suiToundmg one seed. Malacca is said to be favourable for the culture
ta the coffee ; the hemes grown there being superior to those of Jav a or Sumatra
Very picturesque villas and cottages have been formed by the British in most of the
East Indian settlements. We may cite, as
an example, Dr. M‘Kiiinon’s cottage (fin.
219.), on Prince of Wales’s Island, or Pulo
Penang. Tlie cottage is thatched -vvith palin-
leaves. Town-houses and large country-
houses are commonly flat-roofed ; and the
roof, shaded by an awning, seiwes as a baii-
queting-place.
779. Siam is a country without roads,
and ai-cliitectm-e is used only for religious
edifices and the king’s jialaces ; gardens,
therefore, cannot be expected. ( Crawfurd’s
= Embassy to Siam, See.., p. 324.)
780. In Cochin-China the vegetable pro-
: w a J • T T t^i^ctions ai-e similar to those of coiTcsnondmg
latitudes m India. The earth-nut, or A'racliis hypogm'a, the yam, the maiz? and
the cocoa-nut, with rice, form the prmcipal articles of food. Neai- Touran there Is au
ta Z reY u" ‘“ft sand-hUls, close to the shore. The tombs consist
of mere tumuli of loose sand, surrounded by a circular trench. A great number of the
paves were open ; for, it seems, it is the custom of the Cochin Chinese, after the bodv
s to a tìo ? e T / T " “ ,‘f t " ? ’ the bones and remove them to anothe?
sitimtton close to thoir dwellings : the gi-ound in which they ai-e there deposited being
in a gieat measure viewed as a place of worship. (Jbid p 237 )
- r e ? ? ' is reprepnted as having great fa c ilite for'gai-dening. “ The soil
troMcMTl h’s ? T ri ft“®®'™®’ Perfbetly well adapted to the production of
forests) t e res f tbe cocoa-nut the orange, tho mango (which is found wild in the
™-?s»5’ ? tbe dnkn, the pme-apple,” &e. &c. The produce, however, at
fo rric in itv IFs'd” t e f ‘“ri‘ft tftf.t'«™«“ ’- fo'ge quantities arc imported from
e s to t e t -Ìd u i? ? I ’ ®ft ’® f «“ «pt«“ t° the growth of all those gi-een
r ite r e t ” " 1- I ft™"™«™® ™ ts which are natm-al to a tropical climate ; sndi as
ni-fw M h ? ? Th ™™ ft“ ’ ‘i’ft different pulses, the yam, the batata, and
ta ri ? common gai-den pea of Europe may probably be raised, with cai'e -
but the few cabbages that liaye been produced there were grown in flower-pots ami
heated with the p e a te s t attention. (Ibid.) In the botanical and experimental garden of
M f o Z ? h reT 1 “™ ‘t e “ " f t “ ftftft P’™‘ft“ h in t , but It may be p fo ly predicted that the soil is not s’u ited to t’'h"ef tg r«o‘w“ t«liY o fD ccihthleerd
L ien pcppei, which has been most extensively cultivated, does not seem to succeed.
The only object of perfectly successful culture is the species of Uncària, which yields
the Gambreó, or tciTa japónica, a hardy product, for ii'liich the soil of Singapore, as
well as that of all the neighbouring lai-ge islands, seems peculiarly suited. (Ibid.) Tlie
alterations of season are so trifling, that there is a perpetual succession of fruits and
flowers ; and, therefore, every period of the year seems almost equally suited for
conducting the labours of cultivation. The climate is a t the same time free from
storms and hurricanes, or even violent gusts of wind, calculated to overthrow or impede
the labours of the horticulturist or husbandman. The place is seciu*e from locusts,
palraer-worras, Hessian flies, and similar insects ; and the absence of the elephant and
tiger is also a favourable circumstance. (Ibid., p. 535.)
782. The gardens o f the Islands o f Japan, according to Kæmpfer, display little of
taste in design, but are full of the finest flowers and fruits. “ Such,” he says, “ is the
beauty of the flowers which ornament the hills, the fields, and the forests, that the
country may even be prefen-ed iu this respect to Persia. The Japanese transplant the
most beautiful of their wild flowers into the gardens, where they improve them by
culture. Colours are the gi'and beauties desired both iu plants and trees. Chestnut-
trecs, lemons, oranges, citrous and peaches, apricots and plums, abound. Tbe sloe, or
wild plum, is cultivated on account of its flowers, which, by culture, acquire the size of
a double rose, and are so abundant that they cover the whole tree -with a snowy surface
speckled with blood red. These trees are the finest of their ornaments : they are planted,
in preference, around thcir temples ; and they arc also cultivated in pots or boxes for
private houses, as oranges are in Europe. They plant the summits of the mountains
and both sides of the public roads -with long rows of fir trees and cypress, whicb are
common in the country. They even ornament sandy places and deserts by plantations ;
and there exists a law in this island, that no one can cut down a tree without permission
of the magistrate of ihc place ; and, even when he obtains permission, must replace it
immediately by another.”
Subsect. 7. O f the present State o f Gardening in China.
783. The gardening o f the Chinese has long been celebrated, both on account of the
peculiarity of its taste and the care and assiduity displayed in its culture. We shall
bring together what we have been able to collect on all its diflercnt departments.
Division i. Chinese Gardening, as an A r t o f Design and Taste.
784. One o f the earliest accounts o f Chinese gardens was given by Père Lc Comte,
who, as well as Du Halde, had i*esided in the countiy as a missionaiy. “ The Chinese,”
observes Le Comte (Lettre vi.), “ appeal* still more to neglect their gai'dens than thcir
houses. They would consider it as a want of sense to occupy their gi-ounds only in
parteiTcs, in cultivating flowers, and in forming alleys and thickets. The Chinese, who
value order so little iu thcir gardens, still consider them as sources of pleasm*c, and
bestow some expense in tlieir foi-mation. They form grottoes, raise little hills, ]Drocure
pieces of rocks, which they join together -with the intention of imitating nature. I f they
can, besides tiiese things, find enough of water to water their cabbages and legumes,
they consider, that as to that material they have nothing more to desire, and content
themselves with a well or a pond.” Olof Toreen, a Swede, who visited China eaidy in
tlic eighteenth century, and has published an account of his travels, states, “ that in the
Chinese gardens are neither seen trees artificially cultivated, nor alleys, nor figured
parterres of flowers ; but a general confusion of the productions of verdant nature.”
(Voyage o f Osbech to ihe E a s t Indies and China, See..)
785. The imperial gardens o f China arc described in the Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses,
See., in a letter dated Pekin, 1743.’ This letter was translated by Spence, under the
fictitious title of Sir H an y Beaumont, whom Horace Walpole describes as having “ both
taste and zeal for the present style ; ” and was published in Dodsley’s Collection in 17 61.
These gardens are described to be of vast extent, containing 200 palaces, besides garden-
buildings, mock to^vns, villages, all painted and vai*nished, artificial hills, valleys, lakes,
and canals ; serpentine bridges, covered by colonnades and resting-places ; with a fann
and fields, where his imperial majesty is accustomed to patronise nu-al industry, by
putting his hand to the plough, or, as it has been otherwise expressed, “ by playing at
agriculture once a year.” Views of these gardens, taken by native artists for tlie Chinese
missionai-ies, were sent to Paris about the middle of the eighteenth century, and engravings
from them were published, by permission of the French court, in 1788, in a
work entitled Recueils des Plans des Jardins Chinois. We have examined the plan of the
imperial gardens in that ■work with great cai-c, but confess we can see nothing but a
mass of buildings, generally forming squares or courts, backed by peaked hills, and
interspersed with pieces of water, sometimes evidently artificial, and at other times
seemingly natural. The first jct-d’cau ever seen in China was formed in the imperial
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