MR. SPRUCE'S EXCURSION ON THE AMAZON. 173 
As yet I know little of the other races inhabiting Sikkim, the Lim- 
bos, Murmis, and Mechis, nor of the Ghorkas, Bhotanese (of Bhotan), 
and Bhoteas of Thibet (the three last are immigrants, respectively from 
the west, east, and north); when I do, I will give you some little sketch 
of them. 
(To be continued.) 
Mx. Spruce’s Voyage up the AMAZON River ; extracted from a letter 
dated Santarem, November 15, 1849. 
(If we may judge from the uncommon interest that has been 
manifested of late in the living specimens of Victoria regia, with the 
sight of which the public have been so liberally indulged in this 
country by the noble Dukes of Devonshire and of Northumberland, 
the following account of Mr. Spruce’s visit to one of the native loca- 
lities of the plant will be very acceptable to our readers. "They will 
learn from it, if the reports made to that gentleman be true, that the 
largest leaves yet produced in our country (five feet two inches across), 
are but dwarfs compared to what they are in the lakes communicating 
with the mighty Amazon river, during the wet season ; and that the 
deeper the water in which this truly royal plant is cultivated, the more 
luxuriant will be the foliage and the flowers.—Ep.] 
I seize the opportunity of a vessel sailing to-day for Para to write a 
brief letter, and to forward specimens of the flowers and leaves of the 
Victoria regia in a barrel of spirits. We reached Santarem on the 27th 
ult., after a favourable voyage, although twelve days out of seventeen 
were taken up by the first half of the distance, so tedious is the task of 
threading the narrow channels that connect the mouth of the Tocan- 
tins with the Amazon. I have not time to enter into details, and can 
only say that I seized every opportunity of landing, whenever the mon- - 
taria was sent ashore to cut wood, or when we anchored during the | 
day; but this was rarely in such spots as I would myself have selected, _ 
and those hasty excursions were not always productive. The Canal de - 
Tajipurá, which separates the great island of Marajó from the main- 
land, contains numerous water-plants, but scarcely any were in flower. 
I got only a superb Pontederia, or perhaps Fickhornia, with very large 
flowers, and leaves almost exactly orbicular. The floating masses of — — 
Pontederie, frequent in the bays of this channel, had generally inflated ——— 
