burnt brick. They are small, have no "up stairs," and are liable to be washed down by the force of the rain. How foolish, then, a man would be to go and build such a house on the sand in the bed of the river! It would be washed away in a short time should rains descend and floods come. And the floods do come here, whenever the rain falls, in a different way from what they do in your country. The river rises very suddenly and sweeps away all that is in its course. Two years ago, I went to a Hindoo city for two days, and returned at evening. I had not supposed there would be much water in the river. But a sudden shower had fallen in the afternoon, not where I was, but at this place; and when I came to the river's bank, late in the evening, it was swollen very much, and the boat (ferry) was just going back for the last time.

During the dry season people raise a great many cucumbers and melons on the sand in the bed of the river; and they build their little sheds from which to watch the fields, to see that the birds do not eat the fruit, and that it is not stolen. These little huts are often left standing after all the fruit is gathered and the field abandoned-till the floods come and sweep them away. These huts may remind you of the "lodge in a garden of cucumbers," Isa. i. 8. Two or three years since, a sudden heavy shower came on very unusually in the midst of the dry season, while the fruit was all growing on the river sand. The floods came, and the poor man's fruit and his watch-tower were all swept away. When the water again withdrew, no trace of gardens could be seen.

Would not that man be very foolish, who should go and build a house, for his home, on such sands?

So those who hear the sayings of Christ, and do them not, build upon the sand, and all their hopes shall at last be swept away.

PLEASANT VISITS TO KEW GARDENS.

No. 5.

A MAY-DAY VISIT.

THE month of May is one of the most lovely of the year. The meadows are now dotted with golden buttercups; the hedges are white with the sweet blossoms of the hawthorn; and the trees of the wood display their varied and beautiful tints of green. A visit to the Kew Gardens, at such a time, cannot fail to interest those who take a pleasure in beholding the works of God in trees and flowers. We may walk about the grounds and admire the budding beauties that meet our eye on every side; or we can enter some of the buildings where plants too delicate for our climate are sheltered. Let us, however, make our way at once to the Palm House, or, as it is often called, the Palm Stove. We must be prepared for the warmth of the place, as twelve large stoves are under its flooring, from which numerous hot-water pipes proceed. This contrivance is designed to maintain the atmosphere of the inside at summer's heat, even when the ground without is covered with frost and snow.

The Palm House, in its construction, may be

compared to the Industrial Palace in Hyde Park, though it is much smaller. It is formed chiefly of glass, and has a nave and transept, or a centre and two wings. The whole length is about 360 feet, and in the centre it is sixty feet high. About 45,000 square feet of glass

were used in the roof and sides of this curious house. A gallery runs round the lofty centre, to which we ascend by a fine iron staircase, around which climbing flowers twine their

slender green stems and many-coloured blossoms. This gallery enables us to view the plants from above, and brings us on a level with some of the loftiest trees. It is not often that the tops of trees can be seen in so easy a manner; and it is the more desirable in this place, as the heads of some of the trees claim particular attention.

We must not fail to notice the colour of the glass of this house: it is of a greenish tint; a colour that subdues the strong rays of the sun, and has been found best to agree with the growth of the palms beneath.

A large variety of trees and plants are to be seen in the Palm Stove. Those that should first have our notice are the tribe of trees which give their name to the place. The palms have been called the princes among trees," to which honour their stately growth, beautiful foliage, and useful productions may entitle them. The name of these trees is taken from the Latin word palma, a hand, from the supposed resemblance of their broad leaves to the human hand. On the same account the date, which is the fruit of a species of palm, so called, from dactylus, a finger, not so much from its form as from the mode in which it grows in clusters, spreading out like the fingers of a hand.

Palms are found in different situations, and in various parts of the world. Many grow beside rivulets, streams, and wells; others occupy the shores of the ocean; and others adorn the sides of lofty mountains. Some collect into dense forests; others spring up in clusters over the plains, or appear singly in the desert.

"The palm tree in the wilderness
Majestic lifts its head,
And blooms in solitary grace
Where all around is dead."

Their appearance also varies in different species. In some, the trunks are swollen in the middle, and become narrow towards the top and the bottom; in others, the base of the stem commences at some distance above the surface of the earth, being upheld by an arched scaffolding of roots one or more feet high. The surface of the stems is also different: some are smooth and polished; others are rough and marked with rings; and others again are covered with bristly hairs, or prickly scales. Then as to their foliage: here is one with leaves ten feet long, and here another where they reach to twenty feet. The form of the leaves is equally diverse: many are like feathers, some like the teeth of a comb, and others similar to the ribs of a fan. In some instances, the leaves are of a dark and shiny green colour; in others, of a lighter tint, with silvery white on the under side; and some are adorned with blue and yellow stripes. The direction of the giant leaves equally claims our notice. In most palms they point upwards, but in some they gracefully hang downwards. The form and colour of the fruit strangely contrast. How great is the size of the large triangular cocoa-nut compared with the berry of the date. One tree bears golden-coloured seeds, which hang down like clusters of grapes; while other seeds collect at the top, behind the leaves, as a group of hard brownish nuts.

At the present time 440 different species of