Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-04-01
PEEPS at African Scenery,

The British troops in Asllantee certainly
can behold some charming sights. Here is
a picture of African scenery from the cor
reSpondence of the London Daily Ne,cS:
When Lieulenants Richmond and
Woodgate went up with their company to
build redOubt the thickness of the under
growth in the bush forbadeanv view what
ever By persistent hacking ut this under
growth. by telling the smaller trees and
keeping up perpetual fires. they have
cleared Il considerable space upon the crest.
mi exposed chtrming view. On either
side rise lofty hills, rlothedin green from
base to summit Very far OFF. in the misty
Idi>tinec b b-yond Coomls lie. is a faint shad-
nw of mountains. The level between.
through which lies Our road. is beheld
through breaks of foliage exactly like that
tffsctionel by the earliest of Itllian paint
ers. Giorgione might have studied his
zee effiec ; from this spot. The plain lies
misty AMI vagne. it, tones of delicate YER
uure f. linz at the distance into Il golden
lize II III above the forest level npriSe
the p ile green crowns of Gotten trees, iii
inidl OF lower growtliS. Crcepcrs drop
k. :: brown waterfall down the trunks.
treat rails OF fern en.-ircle their branches
II ii ,ng their leaves like stag horns from
the lopmo>t ,OIrll-. \ few trees bear r
.rown of blossom, scar LEI or pink, but not
20 mItch in mass or beauty the brilliant
garden of Fanteeland. Animal life-for
all we see of It-might not exist ut all in
this country. We heIr birds and beasts
sometimes; occ:I-ionally We see parrots fly
overhead. at Il distance. To skim the tillest
bougllS; but few of Us have beheld crea-
ture that runs or flies. except the insects.
mediate short depression on the creep
Ing things of Africa in some pause of the
campaign 1t is sufficient now To say that
no country in the world can compare with
this for variety and numbers of its insects"
Another correspondent writes:
"A little stream goes clear and clean
over some shinglv pebbles, and bends in
and out above and below the road among
! foliage rich enough to derk, not crowded
enough to conceal it. Immediately after
crossing. one of the richest banks of flowers
which have here seen presented itself;
the chief feature being a gay plant, whose
name | do not know, very like cow slip
! in the actual flower. but with a bright
white leaf standing ont as if part of the
flower itself behind each fiower-hcad. and
the plant growing in luxuriant masses on
stems six or seven feet high; the whole
ntertwined with ferns and creepers innu-
merable The bank had curious look
roots stood ont from it as from the base of
a fallen tree. and by the irregularity and
ruggedness they gave to it added much to
itS picturesqueness and beauty Yet the
whole appearance of a bank. and not of a
huge root. was there. from the complete
ness with which Nature had decked every
nook and Granny. | wls rather puzzled,
and went round behind it to find plainly
enough stretching along behind it for. pei
haps, sixty yards. the quite rotten carcase
of an old forest king no longer ex-
cpt by its mere shape, disfinguishable
from Il mound of rich earth. and covered
III over with rich high growing moss and
ferns and plants of all kinds