118 



THE AQUARIUM, JULY, 1894. 



many aquatic plants, but, beyond some 

 pretty yellow Utricularias and the Eich- 

 ornia which we have mentioned, we 

 have noticed nothing with bright flow- 

 ers. The cattle owners put out in canoes 

 and caj)ture these great grass islands 

 and thus obtain a large amount of fod- 

 der. Sometimes one sees a big Victoria 

 regia, its leaves all torn, rolling over and 

 over in the turbid flood. It has come 

 from some broad " igaripe" or inland 

 lake, for the Victoria is never found in 

 the main river. 



We well remember our first sight of 

 this noble plant in its wild state. Liv- 

 ing in a little inland village, we had for 

 weeks been planning an excursion to a 

 large lake in the neighborhood where it 

 abounds, and whence we had often re- 

 ceived the great flowers, but, as one 

 often puts off doing what he can do at 

 any time, our trip had been delayed. 

 One lovely morning, just about Christ- 

 mas, we had paddled across the broad 

 arm of the river to wander in the vast 

 stretch of park-like " varzea," which 

 lies between the parana-miri Juruty and 

 the main Amazon, and which, in fact, 

 is a great island. It was early ; the sun 

 was slanting amid the great trees and 

 everything seemed green and gold ; 

 bright butterflies flew all around, or a 

 great night morj^ho, with beautifully 

 marbled wings, disturbed in his sleep 

 in the recess of some huge buttressed 

 tree, took a short flight to the shade of 

 another. Birds were singing ; great 

 green beetles basked in the sun on the 

 great white trunks of the Munguba 

 trees {Cecropia), and the whole world 

 had just awoke into life. We were 

 familiar with the region, but our tramps 

 had hitherto been north and west ; we 

 now turned to the east. After a 

 time we saw an irregular belt of large 

 trees, which evidently were on the shore 



of a lake, and lieard the hoarse bark of 

 the lontras, an otter-like animal, who 

 had already become aware of our ap- 

 proach. Drawing nearer we saw them 

 in the middle of a little lake, plunging 

 up and down, uttering their short bark, 

 showing their white teeth in their anger 

 at being disturbed. The water of the 

 lake was low and the banks projected 

 over it. Reaching the lake we lay down 

 and looked over, and just below in a little 

 bay was a plant of Victoria regia. It 

 was not large, we have seen thousands 

 larger, but it was as perfect a little spec- 

 imen as one could wish. Five dark 

 leaves, perhaps two feet in diameter, 

 with the upturned rim and one great 

 white flower already beginning to close 

 in the sunlight. We were far away 

 from any house ; probably there was 

 not a human being within five miles, 

 but that flower was better company than 

 anything else could be. How long we 

 lay there we never knew, but it was 

 until the Victoria wholly closed to a 

 prickly bud. Never more would that 

 25ure white flower open ; at sunset it 

 would again expand, but it would be a 

 delicate rosy pink, and again on the 

 third day, but then a deep red and then 

 it would bury itself to perfect its seed. 

 Since then we have often seen the Vic- 

 toria ; we have under the light of the 

 full moon seen hundreds, perhaps thous- 

 ands, of flowers of all the three colors ex- 

 panding as the sun set ; we have crashed 

 our canoe ruthlessly through acres of 

 the great leaves, but that first sight 

 will ever live as one of the pleasantest 

 memories of our Amazonian life. Voy- 

 aging by night we would often put an 

 opening bud of the Victoria in a great 

 calabash and place it in the bow of the 

 canoe to enjoy the rich fragrance, as it 

 floated to us with the motion of the boat, 

 as we lay under the tolda in the stern» 



