Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/408

 still more closely! One of those plants, called Yucca gloriosa, as well as the Spanish dagger, sends forth its pointed dagger-like leaves in all directions from the stem, and has a cluster of splendid white bell-shaped flowers.

And now adieu for the present, amid the beautiful flowers of Georgia, and its still more beautiful human beings.

Columbia is a pretty little city of handsome villas and gardens, and in the midst of these a fine senate-house, for Columbia is the capital of South Carolina. Every state in the union has its capital situated in the centre of the State, and commonly it is of small importance, excepting as a place of meeting for the two legislative bodies, the senate and representatives, who sit in the Senate House of the capital some months of each year. Besides which each state has its large trading towns situated by the sea, or upon some of the great rivers which pour in all directions through this abundantly watered portion of the earth. Columbia in Carolina—every state in the union has, I believe, a city which is called Columbia or Columbus—is beautifully situated on a height near the river Congoree.

I have derived great pleasure through the kindness of a Mr. Gibbs here, a natural historian, who has shown me much attention. In his collection I have seen the remains of those antediluvian creatures, the Megatherium and Mastodon, the bones of which have been dug up here. These remains belong to Titanic creatures. A single tooth is as large as my hand. Mr. Gibbs has had the kindness to give me drawings and descriptions of these animals which I shall be glad to send home to our Professor Sundevall. He has also given me a little hummingbird's nest, the prettiest thing in the world, built of small, delicate blades of grass and tiny pieces of paper.

I was one day invited by a Professor F. to the weddings