containing powerful means of defense. The zoological garden is almost a
rival to that of London, and in some respects is superior to it. The
botanical garden, located about three miles from the city proper, is
equally remarkable for its size and comprehensive character. The good
taste and appreciation which has gathered here so large and complete a
public garden is worthy of all praise.

In this garden there is an enormous banyan-tree, one of the largest in
the world, and the original of the picture of the school-books. The
leaves are very similar to those of the poplar, and are four or five
inches long. Its age is incalculable, being a tree of very slow growth,
and continually multiplying itself, so that it may be said to live
forever. There is one remarkable avenue of Palmyra palms in these
grounds, which we have never seen excelled in beauty of effect even in
the plantation avenues of Cuba, where the family of the palm form the
pride of the coffee planters. Here was also to be seen specimens of the
sacred bo-tree and the camphor-tree of great size; one large
conservatory was devoted solely to the cultivation of ferns, which the
gardener said contained twenty thousand varieties, from the size of an
infant's hand to tall trees.

The various shades of green in this conservatory were no less remarkable
than the wonderful variety of form, all being arranged in the most
effective manner. The tall tree ferns seemed ready to burst through the
glass roof, and were ornamented with little hanging baskets on their
branches, containing choice and delicate specimens, while at their base
was a rockery over which played a tiny fountain, causing the exquisitely
pinnated feathery fronds of the ferns to tremble incessantly. In another
part was a little patch of mossy meadow, and again there were decaying
logs out of which sprang various ferns in wild luxuriance, as one has
seen them in deeply-shaded, low-lying woods. The maiden-hair fern was
here seen ranging from leaves as large as one's thumb-nail to a species
with leaves the size of pin-heads. There was a charming harmony in the
whole arrangement; nothing seemed abrupt, each effect blended gracefully
with those surrounding it, like well-balanced colors in an oil painting.

The King of Oude's palace, on the opposite side of the river, will well
pay the traveler for a visit. The old king has a reputation of being a
little out of his head, or, as the Scotch say, has a bee in his bonne