ROYAL WATER-LILY. 31 



of food, for which they are in great esteem. The dif- 

 culty of obtaining the rhizome, or root, no doubt pre- 

 vents its being applied to similar purposes, for which 

 it is probably as suitable as those of the edible Nym- 

 phseas, or Water-Lilies, to which we have already re- 

 ferred. 



But long as the Irupe has been familiar to the 

 native Indians dwelling on the banks of those rivers 

 wherein it has its home, and well known as it has 

 been to them as an economical plant, yet, so far as 

 the civilised family of mankind and science were 

 concerned, it was long doomed to 



" Blush unseen, 

 And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 



It does not appear very evident to whom we are to 

 accord the honour of the first discovery of this mag- 

 nificent Aquatic, for various candidates are in the 

 field. It would seem, however, that Hsenke, the fa- 

 mous but unfortunate botanical traveller, was the 

 first European botanist to meet with this vegetable 

 wonder; he found it in the marshes by the side 

 of the Rio Mamore, one of the great tributaries of 

 the Amazon, and his observations are detailed in 

 M. D'Orbigny's remarks, afterwards quoted. The 

 date of the discovery, although not precisely stated, 

 must have been about the year 1801. But it was 

 even long after that before any detail of the plant's 

 history was given to the world, and, indeed, before 

 European botanists knew of its existence the first 



