828 
FANCY GERANIUMS. 
sailors grubbed up some of the same sort, and 
I saw tubers on them three feet and a quarter 
thick ; running towards the upper part in a 
round form, but appearing to branch out 
below like enormous roots. Slender roots 
shoot from these main tubers, and on them 
rises an insignificant-looking vegetable, a foot 
high, covered at the top with small oval, pale 
green leaves, like those of the box-tree ; the 
clusters of gossamer flowers are of a yellowish 
colour. It is called Irg-el-moje (water-root) 
in Nuban ; is very full, of juices, but of a 
nauseous sweet taste. The suckers, properly 
speaking, must strike to a great depth in the 
soil. Our liquorice tastes perhaps better, 
owing to its dryness." 
Beautiful red peas, or vetches, were also 
found. They are small, hard, and rough, like 
beads, have a black eye, with a white and 
scarcely visible line, and are called Tlafn-el- 
aruss (bride-grain). The Enderab, a large 
tree, with willow-like laciniated bark, grows 
in great abundance in this part of the country. 
From its name it would appear to delight in 
moist situations. It bears clusters of green 
flowers on its lower branches, hanging in wild 
plenty and disorder, small round fruit, and 
truncated leaves. A large tree, completely 
stripped of leaves, but covered with prickles 
and a species of apple, was also observed. It is 
said, in the proper season, to bear great quan- 
tities of small, round leaves, with abundance of 
white flowers. 
The floating islands continued to meet them 
in their descent, now moored, as it were, by 
binding ropes of vegetation, now borne down 
by the current, like so many moving gardens, 
covered with convolvuli, in verdant splendour, 
and considerably elevated above the water. 
The appearance of these floating parks was 
singularly picturesque. 
The return voyage lay, for a great part, 
through new channels, whose banks were 
equally rich in flowers and other plants. But 
further observations are unnecessary, since they 
could only describe beauty and abundance of 
vegetation, without descending into what 
would be most interesting — minute particulars 
connected with the nature and species of the 
plants. We therefore quit the subject, and 
assure our readers that we have not overrated 
the magnificence of these green and verdant 
shores, between which the Nile, the river of 
mystery, pursues its course. Its place of birth 
is still unknown ; the glories around its foun- 
tain head remain undissipated ; but future tra- 
vellers may, within the present age, unravel 
the difficult problem, and submit to us a 
botanical description of the banks of the 
White Nile, at the same time that they lay 
bare the secrets of its source. 
THE FRENCH, OR FANCY GERANIUM. 
There is a completely new class of gera- 
niums which may be compared to the original 
fancy dahlias ; that is to say, they were ex- 
traordinary in their colours, and extremely 
ragged ; they were marked in a strange 
manner unlike any of the florists' varieties, 
and the great fault of the originals, if tried 
by the test laid down for exhibitions, was 
their ragged edges, and the undefined, cloudy, 
or scratchy nature of the markings. The 
former is improving, and the shape of some 
of the new ones is pretty round, but none of 
them as yet have a smooth edge ; they are 
all more or less frilly, although much less so 
than some of the earliest. They are all in- 
clined to be dwarf, and therefore adapted for 
bedding out, and are said to be continuous 
bloomers, after the fashion of the scarlets, a 
point of great advantage for border flowers. 
They have been much improved by Ambrose 
and Gaines, the English nurserymen ; and at 
the recent exhibitions they have been shown 
a good deal varied in colour ; still they want 
brilliancy, one of the most essential qualities 
of a bedding-out flower. Scarlets, yellows, 
blues light and dark, are tolerable ; whites 
are distinct, but those indefinite dull lilacs, 
purples, and rose colours, that have nothing 
distinct, are by no means desirable, although 
where we have many beds we must have the 
best we can obtain. It is almost impossible 
to de'cide upon their general habit by the spe- 
cimens we see at shows, for they are spread 
out a foot round the pot ; and the surface is 
made even by the mechanical means applied ; 
still they are more dwarf than other gera- 
niums, more so than some of the alleged 
dwarf scarlets, and may be useful. One of 
the richest colours may be found in a new 
one shown by Gaines, called the Hero of 
Surrey. 
We have now, however, an entirely new 
family, originated in the hands of Mr. Beck. 
Two or three years ago there was a flower 
of his exhibited, called Harlequin, a bright 
colour and a shape as different as can be 
imagined from the whole geranium tribe; a 
flower full of points and deep serratures, nei- 
ther square, round, nor any other describable 
form, except that it was uniform. The pre- 
sent season there were two others exhibited 
quite as remarkable, very different in colour 
from each other, and from the original one of 
this strange branch of the geranium family. 
They will be more effective for bedding out 
than any of the fancy ones, because their 
colours are brighter, and better defined, and 
contrasted with the ground. They also ap- 
pear to be abundant bloomers, and of pretty 
habit. There is no accounting for the de- 
