DOWN THE AMAZONS. 355 



sun, and disappeared again among the trees, seeking deeper 

 and more undisturbed retreats. From the reedy grasses 

 came also the deep note of the unicorn, so greatly prized 

 in Brazil, a large bird, half wader, half fowl, belong- 

 ing to the genus Palamedea ; but as we were only pre- 

 pared for a botanizing expedition, we could not avail 

 ourselves of any of the opportunities thus offered ; and 

 the birds, however near and tempting the shots, had 

 little to fear from us. At the upper end of the lake we 

 came upon the bed of water-lilies from which the trophies 

 of yesterday had been gathered. The leaves were very 

 large, many of them from four to five feet in diameter ; 

 but, perhaps from having lost their first freshness and 

 something therefore of their natural texture, the edge 

 of the leaf was scarcely perceptibly raised, and in most 

 instances lay perfectly flat upon the water. We found 

 buds, but no perfect flower. In the afternoon, however, 

 one of the daughters of our fisherman Maia, hearing that 

 we wished to see one of the flowers, brought us a very 

 perfect specimen from another more distant locality, which 

 we had not time to visit. The Indians, by the way, have 

 a characteristic name for the leaf. They call it " forno," 

 on account of its resemblance to the immense shallow 

 pans in which they bake their farinha over the mandioca 

 ovens. The Victoria regia, witli its formidable armor 

 of spines, its gigantic leaves, and beautiful flowers, deep- 

 ening in color from the velvety white outer leaves through 

 every shade of rose to deepest crimson, and fading again 

 to a creamy, yellowish tint in the heart of the flower, 

 has been described so often that I hardly dare dwell 

 upon it, for fear of wearying the reader. And yet we 

 could not see it growing in its native waters- -a type, 



