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832 IN MEMORY OF MARIANNE NORTH.
ferns, and otlier lovely things. We returned over the downs on
the other side of the mountains, and found all the finest Proteas,
most gorgeous, though nearly out of hloom ; also Spara.ria pul.cherrima,
pink hells waving in the wind on nearly invisible stalks.
This house is quite perfect quarters—farm-house and hotel combined—with
the kindest people, who treat one like an old friend.
It is quite solitary, with open flowery country all round, and deep
cracks in the table-land filled with the richest tangled forest. The
sides of these ' kloofs ' are so steep that one hardly sees them till
one reaches the very edge, and they are haunted by huge baboons ;
and a leopard was caught lately a few miles off. I am warned to
be careful; what that means exactly I do not know ! so I only go
as far as my strength allows me. One can but die once ; anyhow,
it does not much matter to me. I leave this on Monday for a few
days amongst the spekbooms [Fortuhicaria afra) and possible
elephants. I then go up the Zuurberg, and on to Grahamstown,
the Catberg, King, Queen, and East Loudon, and again back and
to Knyssa Forest, and hope to get back to the Cape in February to
see the great Visa and summer flowers on the mountain and paint
some landscapes, with the silver forests. It was too cold when I
was there before. After that I shall go straight to Natal. I shall
not be home as soon as I thought, unless I get ill, but shall want
a new room at least to put all the work in."
Miss North succeeded in accomplishing the journeys and the
paintings she alludes to in the foregoing letter, and returned to
England in the spring of 1883, though further enfeebled by an
attack of fever. However, after a few months' comparative repose,
this courageous lady proceeded to the Seychelles, where she painted
the peculiar palms, screw-pines, and other characteristic plants.
In the meantime she had set the builders to work on a new wing to
the gallery at Kew, to receive the new paintings.
I will now pass on to Miss North's last travels,—her journey to
Chili in the autumn of 1884. She had painted the Brazilian
Araucaria in its home, and the Australian Bunya bunya, and she
wished to paint the Chilian Araucaria. In a characteristic letter,
which appeared in the 'Pall Mall Gazette' in March, 1885, she
thus describes her visit :
" Soon after reaching the first Araucarias we found ourselves
surrounded by them, and all other trees gave way to them, though
the ground was still gay with purple peas and orange orchids, and
many tiny flowers, whose names I did not know, and which I had
not time to paint. Such flowers, when picked, die almost directly.
Many hills and the valleys between were covered with old trees,
over some miles of space, and there are few specimens to be found
outside their forest. I saw none over 100 feet high or 20 feet iu
circumference, and, strange to say, they seemed all very old or very
young. I saw none of those noble specimens of middle age we have
in some English parks, with their lower branches resting on the
ground. They had not become flat-topped, like those in Brazil,
but were slightly domed, like those of (^)acensland, and their shiny
leaves glittered in the sunshine, while their trunks and branches