A stationary house under a lovely clump of
trees on the borders of some beautiful river! Until it descended
between the banks of the larger stream it would not be out of keeping
with the picturesque landscape which stretched away on each side of
it.
We may add that the exterior of the house was no less charming than
the interior.
In fact, on the outside the young fellows had given free scope to
their taste and imagination.
From the basement to the roof it was literally covered with foliage.
A confused mass of orchids, bromelias, and climbing plants, all in
flower, rooted in boxes of excellent soil hidden beneath masses of
verdure. The trunk of some ficus or mimosa was never covered by a
more startlingly tropical attire. What whimsical climbers--ruby red
and golden yellow, with variegated clusters and tangled twigs--turned
over the brackets, under the ridges, on the rafters of the roof, and
across the lintels of the doors! They had brought them wholesale from
the woods in the neighborhood of the fazenda. A huge liana bound all
the parasites together; several times it made the round of the house,
clinging on to every angle, encircling every projection, forking,
uniting, it everywhere threw out its irregular branchlets, and
allowed not a bit of the house to be seen beneath its enormous
clusters of bloom.
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