botanical
institutions of the British Colonies.

The Herbarium Horti contains the necessary materials for the compilation
of the new catalogue of the Botanic Gardens, and the Herbarium
Bogoriense contains plants to be found in the neighbourhood of
Buitenzorg.

Besides specimens of fruits, there is a comprehensive technical
collection in the Botanical Museum--fibres, commercial specimens of
rattan, india-rubber, and gutta-percha, barks for tanning purposes,
Peruvian barks, vegetable oils, indigo samples, various kinds of meal,
resins and damars. There is also a section devoted to forest and staple
produce.

Fuller details of the gardens and environs of Buitenzorg may be found in
the handbook published by Messrs. G. Kolff and Co., Batavia.

One need not be wholly a scientific investigator to appreciate the
beauties of Buitenzorg. There is here one view which has been described
over and over again, oftentimes in the language of hyperbole--the view
of the Tjidani Valley from the verandah of Bellevue Hotel. It is,
indeed, difficult to avoid the use of extravagant language in the
attempt to describe this beauty spot of Nature.

Though he was writing of a beautiful woman, F. Marion Crawford might
have been describing some beautiful landscape when he wrote in his own
exquisite style:--

"I think that true beauty is beyond description; you may describe the
changeless faultless outlines of a statue to a man who has seen good
statues and can recall them; you can, perhaps, find words to describe
the glow and warmth and deep texture of a famous picture, and what you
write will mean something to those who know the master's work; you may
even conjure up an image before untutored eyes. But neither minute
description nor well-turned phrase, neither sensuous adjective nor
spiritual smile can tell half the truth of a beautiful living thing."

The noble Roman, prompted to exclaim "Behold the Tiber" as he stood on
the summit of Kinnoull Hill and gazed upon the fertile valley of
Scotland's noblest stream, saw no fairer sight than this veritable
Garden of Eden in Equatorial Java.

Seen in the afternoon when the setting sun is casting long shadows over
the landscape, the scene in the Tjidani Valley is calculated to arouse
the artistic senses of the most insusceptible. Miles away, the Salak
raises his majestic cone against the blue sky. In the distance, the
mountain forms a purple background for the picture, purple flecked with
soft