32 ROYAL WATER-LILY. 



full account drawn up being that by Professor Lind- 

 ley, in 1837, of which a few copies only were pri- 

 vately printed. Even the earliest mention of the 

 plant in print, according to Hooker, was in 1 832, in 

 " Froriep's Notizen," wherein it is described as a 

 new species of Euryale, under the name of E. Ama- 

 zonica. So little did European botanists recently 

 know of this vegetable prodigy, that even Lindley, 

 in the " Natural System of Botany," published in 

 1836, then spoke of the NymphseaceaB as generally 

 rare in the southern hemisphere, and entirely unknown 

 on the continent of South America. Since Hsenke's 

 time, the observers of the Victoria Lily in her na- 

 tive waters have not been few; and scarcely have 

 they been less enthusiastic in their admiration of the 

 wonderful plant than was that botanist, who, we are 

 told, fell upon his knees, in a transport of admira- 

 tion, on seeing it, and fervently expressed aloud his 

 deep sense of the power and magnificence of the 

 Creator in his works ! In fact, every succeeding ob- 

 server sees in this plant some new beauty to .admire 

 which former travellers had not perceived; and we 

 shall therefore detail the observations of the various 

 discoverers of the Lily in her native habitats, as 

 nearly as possible in their own words; for it is im- 

 possible to convey any adequate idea of the magnifi- 

 cence of the plant without adducing the concurrent 

 testimony of those who have seen it in its native 

 grandeur. 



