Rafflesia Arnold!. 



CHAPTER IV. 



NYMPHEACLE. VICTORIA REGINA. RAFFLESIA ARNOLDI. 



TVORBIGNY, the traveller, while travelling 

 *-* through the Republic of Bolivia, at Corrien- 

 tes, was attracted by the flowers, leaves, and fruits, 

 of a gigantie plant which he found floating on the 

 water. This plant, one of the most beautiful in Amer- 

 ica, bears some resemblance to the water-lily, and 

 seems to belong to the family of the Nympheacce. 

 The reader, in order to obtain some idea of what it 

 is like, must imagine a vast extent of water covered 

 entirely with huge round leaves, floating on the sur- 

 face, measuring from three to six feet, with flowers 

 now yellow, now violet, and sometimes white, more 

 than a foot long, and diffusing a delicious perfume. 



