360 HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



composing the genial bed of Jupiter and Juno ; and the 

 lotus-herb is said to have formed the green food of 

 Achilles's horses. 



Antiquaries assure us, that they recognise this flower 

 on the head of Harpocrates. 



Belzoni says in his work on Egypt, " At Eduf are the 

 ruins of a superb temple, which is covered with hiero- 

 glyphics and figures. On the side wall of the pronaos I 

 observed the figure of Harpocrates, which is described by 

 Mr. Hamilton, seated on a full-blown lotus, with his 

 finger on his lips, as in the minor temple at Tentyra. 



Isis has been represented holding a lotus flower in her 

 left hand. 



The Indians, says Pennant, feign that Cupid was first 

 seen floating down the Ganges on the Nymph&a Nelumbo. 



" Down the blue Ganges laughing glide 



Upon a rosy lotus wreath, 

 Catching new lustre from the tide, 

 That with his image shone beneath." 



T. Moore. 



Mrs. Graham notices in her Journal of a Residence in 

 India, " On the waters float multitudes of the beautiful 

 red lotus; the flower is larger than that of the white 

 water-lily, and is the most lovely of the nymphaeas I have 

 seen." 



" This," says Mr. Maurice, " is the majestic lotus, in 

 whose consecrated bosom Brahma was born, and Osiris 

 delights to float." 



Sir W. Jones has noticed the veneration paid to this 

 plant, which was anciently revered in Egypt, as it is at 

 present in Hindoostan, Tibet, and Nepal. 



Pliny describes the Egyptian lotus as a plant which 

 grows in the marshes of that country, and which came up 

 in the flats when the waters of the Nile returned to their 



