44 ROYAL WATER-LILY. 



The discovery of the Royal Lily by Sir Robert 

 Schomburgh, and the interest which was thereafter 

 excited by the details of his researches, laid before 

 various scientific bodies, and quoted extensively in 

 scientific as well as literary journals, had the effect 

 of directing the attention of scientific travellers to 

 this extraordinary production; and several interest- 

 ing accounts of the Lily have been subsequently for- 

 warded to this country by various travellers, whose 

 searches for the plant have been successful. 



In the summer of 1845, Mr Bridges observed the 

 Victoria in the vicinage of Santa Anna, in the pro- 

 vince of Moxos, republic of Bolivia. Whilst riding 

 along the woody banks of the river Yacuma, one of 

 the tributaries of the Mamore, he " had the good 

 fortune to come suddenly on a beautiful pond, or 

 rather small lake, embosomed in the forest," where, 

 to his delight and astonishment, he discovered, for 

 the first time, the "Queen of Aquatics" the Vic- 

 toria Regina. " There were, at least, fifty flowers in 

 view, and Belzoni could not have felt more rapture 

 at his Egyptian discoveries than I did in beholding 

 the beautiful and novel sight before me, such as it 

 has fallen to the lot of few Englishmen to witness. 

 Fain would I have plunged into the lake to procure 

 specimens of the magnificent flowers and leaves ; but, 

 knowing that these waters abounded in alligators, I 

 was deterred from doing so by the advice of my 

 guide, and my own experience of similar places." 



