PONDS AND LAKES. 247 



biuni is widely known in India and Japan as the lotus, and 

 is there considered sacred and is freely copied in their 

 decorative designs. It is also probably the lotus of ancient 



Egypt- 

 Picture for yourself a pumpkin-leaf erected three or 

 four feet high on a stem, and great buds that look, for all 

 the world, like gigantic tea-rose buds, and you will have a 



AN ARRANGEMENT OF LOTUSES AND LILY-PADS. 



fair idea of the general appearance of the lotus. Of course, 

 the leaves of the lotus are more finely veined and smoother 

 and more shining of texture, and the flowers grander and 

 richer in tint than the tea-rose bud ; but, for all that, the 

 pumpkin-leaf and tea-rose bud comparison is a suggestive 

 one. The botanical name of the lotus, Nelumlinm, signify- 

 ing a rose or spray of a watering-pot, is very descriptive of 

 the curious seed-pod. There is a fine Nelumbium, native to 



