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CHAPTER I. 



HISTORICAL. 



ORIENTAL LITERATURE. 



Man was probably impressed from the first with the grace and beauty 

 of the waterlilies ; for their distribution is worldwide. There is evidence 

 enough that the seeds and roots (tubers) of various species have been 

 used for food by many savage races, as in Australia, Madagascar, West 

 Africa and Central America ; but naturally it remained for more civilized 

 peoples to rise to anything like an aesthetic interest. A Chinese writer of 

 the eleventh century a. d., Chou Tun-I, is thus quoted in Giles's " Gems 

 of Chinese Literature," 



Since the opening: days of the T'angr dynasty [600 a. d.], it has been fashion- 

 able to admire the paeony ; but my favorite is the waterlily. How stainless it rises 

 from its slimy bed ! How modestly it reposes on the clear pool an emblem of 

 purity and truth ! Symmetrically perfect, its subtle perfume is wafted far and wide ; 

 while there it rests in spotless state, something to be regarded reverently from a 

 distance, and not to be profaned by familiar approach. 



In my opinion, the chrysanthemum is the flower of retirement and culture ; the 

 paeony, the flower of rank and wealth ; the waterlily, the Lady Virtue sans pareille. 



Alas ! few have loved the chrysanthemum since T'ao Yuan-ming ; and none 

 now love the waterlily like myself ; whereas the paeony is a general favorite with all 

 mankind. 



The waterlily of China is the little Nymphaea tetragona, which, 

 though pure white and of pleasant scent, never attains to much more 

 than a pigmy size ; and its odor is not nearly so rich as that of our 

 own N. odorata. It is interesting also to note that our author is ex- 

 pressing only a personal opinion, one which is not at all general, and 

 which indeed may be regarded as heretical. 



India is much richer in gorgeous varieties of waterlily than any 

 other portion of the globe. By day the blue N. stellata exhibits 

 several shades of color, even running off by degrees into pink in parts 

 of Bengal. At night and early in the morning the great white N. lotus 

 and the deep crimson N. rubra expand their flowers 6 to 10 inches in 



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