46 ROYAL WATER-LILY. 



I could have wished. It wanted those noble palms, 

 the Mutacu and Palma real, which so beautifully 

 adorn the banks of the Mamore, to have made a per- 

 fect and enchanting picture with the Victoria in the 

 waters. The trees belonged to genera new to me, 

 and peculiar to this level part of the country. 

 Amongst the shrubs, I observed two species of Bau- 

 hinia, and a fine purple-flowered Bignonia, climbing 

 even to the summit of the trees." 



Dr Campbell of Demerara well known as the 

 original secretary of the Botanical Society of Edin- 

 burgh gives an account of his visit to the. Victoria 

 on the Essequibo, in a letter to Professor Balfour, 

 accompanying some seeds of the plant. This interest- 

 ing letter was read to the Botanical Society at their 

 meeting on llth July, 1850. Dr C. says " I enclose 

 in this a dozen seeds of Victoria Eegia, brought from 

 the Essequibo a few days ago by an itinerant collec- 

 tor, who seems to know their value, as he charges a 

 dollar (4s. 2d.) a dozen for them. I am afraid they 

 will not germinate after their voyage across the 

 Atlantic ; but this, at least, you must bear in mind, 

 if you intend to try the experiment, that the plant 

 will not live in an atmosphere within the influence 

 of the sea breeze, nor grow in soil or water where 

 there is the slightest saline principle existing. Such, 

 at least, is the result of experiments tried here. I 

 visited the locality of the plant in the Essequibo, 

 above a hundred miles from the sea, in 1846, and it 



