United States or Albania ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Curious birds flew hither and thither, voiceless creatures, scarlet and amber winged; a huge gilded brazier stood in one corner from whence ascended the constant smoke of burning incense, and there were rose-shaded lamps all about, that shed a subdued mysterious lustre on the scene, and bestowed a pale glitter on a few fantastic clumps of arums and nodding lotus-flowers that lazily lifted themselves out of a greenish pool of stagnant water sunk deeply in on one side of the marble flooring.
Great ferns stand in the edge of the forest, and giant arums cling their arms about the trunks of trees and rear their dim jacks-in-the-pulpit far in the branches; and in the greater distance I know that green parrots are flying in twos from tree to tree.
"Ah, Mr Long," said the latter, "what a lovely bunch of arums!" "Yes sir," said Tom, looking very red in the face; "they're for the mess table." "Your lotuses are lovely, Mr Midshipman Roberts," said Miss Linton, smilingly greeting the frank-faced lad. "Aren't they, Miss Linton?" said Bob. "I'm just going to send them aboard to the first luff; he's rather poorly."
'But this luxury of vegetation embellishes not only the outside of the vault, it appears even in the vestibule of the grotto. We saw with astonishment plantain-leaved Heliconias, eighteen feet high, the Praga palm-trees, and arborescent Arums follow the banks of the river, even to those subterranean places.
Here, too, we saw plants hanging in mid-air, like the crowns of huge pineapples; and large climbing arums, with their dark green and arrow-head-shaped leaves, forming fantastic and graceful ornaments amid the foliage; while huge-leaved ferns and other parasites clung to the sterns up to the very highest branches.
His last act was to give her half the tabby-striped arums as they parted. Then he lifted the broad hat once more and stood bareheaded, as the squaw came slowly down the wooden causeway, not without one glance at us as she passed. But at the bottom of the street she turned round to look at Dennis. His hat was still in his hand, and he swung it round his head, crying, "A Dieu, Madame!"
"A Dieu!" said the squaw, and she held up the tabby-striped arums. Very mingled feelings seemed to have been working in Alister's mind, but his respect for the fruits of education was stronger even than his sense of propriety. He forgot to scold Dennis for his unseemly familiarity with a stranger, he was so anxious to know in what language he had been speaking. "French," said Dennis.
For the Malays are a flower-loving people, and there is nothing the dark beauties of this race like better than decking their jetty-black hair with white and yellow sweet-scented blossoms. Bob was not long in securing a large bunch of arums, all soft and white, with the great yellow seed vessel within.
If it is a chalk spring, from six feet to six yards wide, its flow will probably be constant throughout the year, for it is fed from the reservoirs in the heart of the hills. Then it needs little care except to clear its course, and the planting of its banks with flowers and stocking of its waters with lilies, arums, irises, and trout is begun at once.
And I looked at her with a curious feeling that my dreams were coming true. Probably Dennis had come to the same conclusion, when, waving the tabby-coloured arums he said, "I'll ask her what these are," and gaily advanced to carry out his purpose. "Ye're daft," said Alister, getting red. "It's a North American Indian!" said I.
Word Of The Day