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A digression here from the purely horticultural side to the his- 

 torical may be of interest. The Victoria regia was apparently 

 first discovered about the year 1801 by that unfortunate explorer, 

 Haenke, who was sent out by the Spanish government to investi- 

 gate the vegetable productions of Peru. He found it in the 

 marshes by the side of the Rio Marmore, one of the tributaries 

 of the Amazon. There seems to have been no records preserved 

 of Haenke's impressions on beholding this wonder of the vege- 

 table world, but perhaps they were like those of Sir Robert 

 Schomburgh, who, on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society 

 of London, made extensive explorations in British Guiana in the 

 year 1837. He remarks as follows : " It was on the 1st of Jan- 

 uary, 1837, while contending with the difficulties that nature in- 

 terposed, in different forms, to stem our progress up the river 

 Berbice (lat. 4 deg. 30 min. N., long. 52 deg. W.), that we arrived 

 at a part where the river expanded, and formed a currentless basin ; 

 some object on the southern extremity of the basin attracted my 

 attention, and I was unable to form an idea what it could be ; but 

 animating the crew to increase the rate of their paddling, we soon 



hold, a vegetable wonder ! All calamities were forgotten ; I was 

 a botanist, and felt myself rewarded! There were gigantic 

 ives, five to six feet across, flat, with a broad rim, lighter green 

 iove and vivid crimson below, floating upon the water ; while, 

 character with the wonderful foliage, I saw luxuriant flowers, 

 ch consisting of numerous petals, passing in alternate tints, 

 )m pure white to rose and pink. The smooth water was cov- 

 :red by the blossoms, and, as I rowed from one to the other, 

 always found something new to admire. The flower-stalk is 

 in inch thick near the calyx, and studded with elastic prickles 

 ibout three quarters of an inch long. When expanded, the four- 

 .eaved calyx measures a foot in diameter, but is concealed by the 

 expansion of the hundred-petalled corolla. This beautiful flower, 

 when it first unfolds, is white, with a pink center ; the color 

 spreads as the bloom increases in age ; and, at a day old, the 

 whole is rose-coloured. As if to add to the charms of this noble 

 VVater-Lily, it diffuses a sweet scent. As in the case of others 



