484 THE UNIVERSE. 



and gigantic proj^ortions separate it so widely from every- 

 tliing known, that in spite of the assertions of travellers, 

 botanists refused to believe, and persisted in looking 

 upon the repulsive colossus as a Fungus. The discussion 

 did not cease till one of these flowers was sent to London, 

 and examined by R Brown, who dissipated all doubts. 

 Each flower was found to be composed of a fleshy mass 

 weighing from twelve to fifteen pounds. Its border, the 

 circuit of which was not less than ten feet, showed five 

 lobes, forming a gaping excaA^ation capable of holding a 

 dozen pints of fluid. 



This strange and eccentric floAver, which botanists still 

 regard as one of the marvels of the vegetable world, looks 

 at first sight like one of the huge Fungi commonly called 

 puff-balls, and it is only when it has displayed its thick and 

 flesh-coloured petals that its true nature is revealed. It 

 exhales a repulsive carrion-like smell. 



The naturalist stands stupified at such an exuberant 

 production, but the Javanese prostrates himself before it; 

 he almost makes a divinity of it, and clothes it with super- 

 natural power. Yet its bulk, weight, and fetor will ever 

 prevent us from making use of it for our wants and enjoy- 

 ments.^ 



Poetry has exhausted all its resources in telling of the 

 perfume and colour of flowers. Nature has surpassed art, 

 and the pencil of Apelles and Eubens could not reproduce 



' Here and there, in f]es(ilate spots in Soiith-west Africa, grows one of tlie 

 most extraordinary plants in the world, the )\'elu-itschia mirabilis. It looks 

 perhaps almost as much like an immense red and green Polypus as anything. It 

 has two leaves, nine or ten feet long, and of a pale green colour. Under the in- 

 fluence of heat and drought these split u]j into ribbons. In the centre is a woodv 

 mass, with a rough bark or cork-like surface, rising a foot or so above the ground, 

 and bearing round its edges, just within the insertion of the leaves, an assemblage 

 of small stems about six inches long, dividing into smaller branches, each of 

 which bears from three to five cones, three inches in length and three quarters 



