A glance at the accompanying illustrations will reveal a special character belonging to this garden, somewhat different from that of other examples. It is one of the gardens of Shimazu, the Daimio of Satsuma, at Kagoshima, and is rather more severe in treatment than the landscape gardens of Tokio. The almost complete absence of large trees and the important part played by high rockeries and artificially clipped bushes impart a quality to the composition, which, though highly refined and artistic, is, at the same time, somewhat austere. The lake, beginning in a wide pool at the base of the highest bush-covered cliffs, assumes a serpentine form and terminates in a narrow stream crossed by a wrought granite slab. The borders of the lake in front of the residence are neatly finished with rocks and stone slabs of a variety of shapes, separated by low spherical bushes and occasional evergreens. At one point, an important group of rocks forms the support to a stone lantern-head. In the background of the lower illustration on Plate XXXVIII. may be observed an elevated rock-basin, backed by a bush-covered rockery and hills, and containing overflowing water. This is the garden cascade, detached in the present instance from the lake, and having its own lower pool or basin with surrounding boulders. In one place, a clump of palms assists in imparting a distinctly tropical appearance to the garden.
