ROYAL WATER-LILY. 41 



broad flowers, upwards of a foot across, and either 

 white, pink, or purple always double, and diffusing 

 a delicious odour. The fruit which succeeds these 

 flowers is spherical, and half the size, when ripe, of 

 the human head, full of roundish farinaceous seeds, 

 which give to the plant the name of Water-Maize 

 (Mais del Agua), for the Spaniards collect the seeds, 

 roast, and eat them. I was never weary of admiring 

 this colossus of the Vegetable Kingdom, and reluc- 

 tantly pursued my way the same evening to Cor- 

 rientes, after collecting specimens of the flowers, 

 fruits, and seeds." 



Sir Robert Schomburgh, well known for his scien- 

 tific researches in distant lands, is a more recent 

 observer of the royal plant. In the year 1837, Sir 

 Robert, when investigating the natural productions 

 of British Guiana (on behalf of the Royal Geogra- 

 phical Society of London, aided by the English 

 Government), discovered the Victoria Lily there, and 

 he gives a glowing detail of the discovery, in a letter 

 communicated to the Geographical Society and the 

 Botanical Society of London, which was then re- 

 ported in various journals. His description and 

 drawing were the means of first directing the at- 

 tention of British botanists to this extraordinary 

 production, and furnished sufficient information for 

 Dr Lindley to prepare his illustrated history of 

 the plant, before referred to of which, however, 

 " only twenty-five copies were printed for private 



