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Show 272 TROPICAL LANDSCAPE. slopes those mountains have the vegetation or tropical Asia; but as they are ascended, the vegetation of Europe makes its appearance ; and the pro~ gress has much resemblance to one fro~ Italy_ to Lapland, in forest, orchard, and every t.hmg. . But the genuine tropical landscape IS a cun<;ms sight to those who have been accustomed to nothmg save the seasons of England and their successio? of productions and phenom~n3:. . These productiOns are tempered to great pecuhanties of w~ather; many months without a shower or any mmsture exc~pt the dew ; and then pelting rains of the utm.ost VIOlence. One year of such weather would, If there were no help to be obtained from any other quarter, cause a famine in England, and go far towards converting the entire country into a desert. No doubt many parts of the tropical. regions are deserts, ~nd some are deserts now which have traces of havmg been once fertile. It is not so much, _?oweyer, to any alteration of the . seas~:>ns that that IS owmg, as to alterations in the earth Itself,-to the fact that the lakes have been emptied, and the rivers have. cut their channels so deep that they no longer contmue to irrigate and fer~ilize t~e soil. There is protectiOn agamst excess both of drought and of moisture in the surfaces of most of th~ trorical plants. Their epidermis, o~ externa~ rmd, IS very compact, and in. general highly polished and shining. Thus the light and heat of the sun are reflected from it in the hot and dry season, so th~t the internal parts are not excited to more than ordinary action. Then the .c~mpactness renders . the evaporation far less than It .Is m. the common plants of Europe, with a very mferwr deg:ee of temperature. In like manner, as the pecu~Iarly smooth and close epidermis pre~ents evaporatiOn to ~arching in the dry sea~on, It prevents. evapor~twn to chillino- in the humid; and so, notwithstandmg that intensg action of heat and light which produces so ORANGES. 273 much be~uty and fragrance in the tropical fruits. the germes Ill the plants there ·have certainly a more equable temp~rature throughout the year, and probably not a. higher on_e than they have in Lapland. In all tropical countnes the fruits are delio-htfully cool~ng, even when they are gathered under the burnmg sun ; and as the pulp of fruits has accomplished its purpose, and is about to be yielded up to th~ ge~eral d~)Om of .materials, if man do not appropnate It to his use, If that be found to retain so very cool a temperature, much more so must the common juices of the plants, many of which outlive the oaks and the chestnuts of temperate climates. The whole of the orange tribe, and the oranO'e ~tself in an especial degree, show how well the tropIcal vegetables are, by a very simple provision of nature, prot~cted_ from. the yicissitudes of temperatur€. The vol~tlle Oil whiCh Is contained in the pellicles of the rmd absorbs and flies off with much of the heat; and the soft white substance of which the body of the skin is composed is almost as good a . barrier against both heat and cold as the fur on an animal or the dow11: on a bird. In consequence of that, th_e orange tnbe, where they are uninjured wh~n picked, and kept out of the circumstances whiCh resemble .tho~e in w~ich an orange would prepare for growmg m the soil, can be carried uninjure?- to greater distances, and_ into a _greater variety o~ chmates, than any o~her frmt. It IS very different Wit~ the northern bernes ; none of them will keep thetr flavour, and few their form for a week· the strawberry is vapid the second day if fully ripe ~hen gathe~ed, and the. rasp~erry is injured in an hourm~ en m shorter time If the weather is very warm. All thos~ are covered by mere pellicles, as tender and easll.Y rupture?- as they are thin ; and more str~ngth Is. not reqmred for them, as the term of their existence. IS very short, and the season is mild and comparatively uniform all the time they are passing |