586 



THE UNIVERSE. 



cular, are from six to eight feet in diameter. They spring 

 from a petiole which, issuing from the depths of the river, 

 projects from its stem some twenty feet distance, and ends 

 beneath the blade, forming by its ramifications a solid frame- 

 work, strengthened by very projecting partitions such as 

 no other plant possesses. The upj^er surface of the leaves 

 of the Victoria is, on the contrary, very uniform and of a 



210. A Paver Reach fiUed with the Floating Leaves of the VictoHa 



rcgia. 



beautiful gxeen; thus seen at a distance they look like so 

 many floating tables covered with velvet. Owing to their 

 framework of nerves, these swimming leaves can support 

 a great Aveight without sinking. The aquatic Inrds rest 

 upon them, or pass the night on these natural rafts. The 

 daughter of one of the most illustrious botanists in Ene- 

 land told me, that when a child, her father had set her 

 upon one of those gigantic leaves, and that she had walked 

 upon it without it sinking. 



