THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 483 



that it will admit the head of a man ; and Hnmboldt relates 

 that, when travelling along by this river, he sometimes 

 encountered savages wearing this flower on their heads 

 like a hat. 



But it is on the surface of rivers that the pomp of vege- 

 tation is displayed. Nature nowhere shows another 

 flower Avhich for size, united to colouring, can be com- 

 pared to those of the Nympheae and the Nelumbia. By 

 gentle gradations they pass from the purest white to the 

 most velvety red or the most delicate blue ! In every age 

 these magnificent plants have attracted man's attention, 

 and been the object of his admiration. Art has made a 

 splendid use of them, and to them the ancient myths owe 

 some of their most delicate and beautiful conceptions. 



They play a great part in mythology and on Egyptian 

 monuments. The colonnades of Thebes and Philce, which 

 seem to defy the hand of time, are crowned with capitals 

 representing flowers of the Nymj^hea in full bloom, with 

 which the sculptors of the Pharaohs have sometimes inter- 

 mingled bunches of dates. 



There is no Egyptian monument on which Isis is not 

 represented surrounded by the lotus, or holding bouquets 

 of it in her hands. This flower was the indispensable 

 ornament of the immortal goddess. In the Hindoo 

 temples it also serves as a seat for Bramah, who is repre- 

 sented sitting and holding in his hands the sacred Vedas. 



Yet the brilliant rose and white flower of the Victoria 

 regia, which ornaments the waves of the Amazon, attains 

 still more remai-kable proportions than the foregoing, being 

 sometimes a yard in circumference. 



But the flower of the Rafflesia Arnoldi, a perfect 

 monster of vegetation, leaves all these far behind ! It is 

 found in the forests of Java and Sumatra. Its outlines 



