ROYAL WATER-LILY. 47 



appeared to me a small lagoon, rather than a lake, 

 over which the river flows in the rainy season. It 

 is surrounded on all sides with a dense " bush " (natu- 

 ral forest), through which we had great difficulty in 

 dragging a small corial (wood-skin boat), in which we 

 embarked on the lagoon, which is a most gloomy 

 spot, the favourite resort of caymans, where the 

 sun can scarcely penetrate even at noon, and with 

 an atmosphere oppressively damp and hot. So far 

 as I could judge by sounding and examining the 

 stems of the plant, it appears to grow at a depth of 

 twelve or fourteen feet, in an oozy, slimy, muddy 

 sort of compound, with which, I presume, sand must 

 be mixed, for higher up the river there are immense 

 tracts of loose sand in the bed of the river, which 

 must be swept along with the torrent every rainy 

 season." 



Mr Spruce, who is at present on a botanical mis- 

 sion in the South American wilds, and whose excel- 

 lent parcels, already received in this country, afford 

 ample proof of his activity and the success of his ex- 

 ertions, is also another recent observer of the Victoria 

 Lily, and the following interesting observations from 

 his pen have been published in " Hooker's Journal 

 of Botany" : "We reached the igarape, and were 

 at once gratified by seeing the Victoria growing by 

 the opposite shore of the igarape itself. We were 

 warned by the people not to go amongst the plants, 

 as their prickles were venomous; but I got both 



