FRONTISPIECE. 
IT appears as if the productive powers of nature, on receding from the poles, had collected themselves in their greatest strength near the equator, 
spreading their gifts with open hand, rendering every scene more imposing and majestic, and manifesting the abundant fertility of the soil. 
Gigantic trees raise their lofty crowns to a height unknown in the European forests, and display the greatest contrasts in the form and 
appearance of their foliage. Lianas cling to their trunks, interlace their wide spreading branches, and having reached their summit, with 
aerial roots descend again towards the ground, and appear like the cordage of a ship. Clusters of palm trees, of all vegetable forms the most 
imposing, rise in grandeur above the surrounding mass, waving their pinion-like leaves in the soft breeze. Nature, as if not satisfied with 
the soil allotted to her, richly decorates the trunks and limbs of trees, the stones and rocks ; even the surface of the water is covered with a 
carpet of plants interspersed by magnificent flowers. Nothing can give a better idea of the luxuriance and richness of vegetation in Guiana 
than the splendid Victoria Regia, the most beautiful specimen of the Flora of the Western hemisphere. The calm of the surrounding 
atmosphere, where frequently not a breath of wind agitates the foliage, not a cloud veils the azure vault of heaven, contrasts strongly with the 
hum of animated nature. The Colibri, with its metallic lustre, passes rapidly from blossom to blossom, sipping the nectar of fragrant flowers, 
or sporting with the dew-drops which glitters on their petals. The ancient forest of noble trees re-echoes with the notes of feathered 
songsters. The plumage of the splendid macaws and parrots, perched on boughs, perhaps illumined by the beams of a setting sun, richly 
mingles with the brilliant and bright green foliage. Night approaches, and displays the firmament with all the southern constellations ; the 
musical notes of birds give place to the chirping voices of crickets, the sounds of the tree-frog, lizards, and reptiles. Thousands of phos- 
phorescent insects flutter among the leaves, emitting a light, which, if it does not illuminate, tends to increase the characteristic features 
of a tropical night, and to realize that idea which imagination sketches when impressed with the most splendid descriptions in the 
t 
Arabian tales. 
Such is the picture which has stamped itself with indelible characters upon my mind, and which has been strengthened, since 
my return, by comparing European vegetation with the glorious scenes, which plain, dale, or forest present under the tropics. The 
luxuriance and grandeur peculiar to these climes, is nowhere more strikingly exhibited than in the magnificent Victoria Regia, no 
doubt one of the most remarkable productions of the botanical world. 
During our ascent of the river Berbice, we met with difficulties of no common nature. The river being broken up by numerous rapids 
and cataracts our progress was but slow, and, having been deserted by a party of Wacawais, we could not muster a sufficient number to 
man our canoes, and had therefore to abandon one. After we had passed the cataracts, which extended for nearly fifteen miles in almost 
an uninterrupted line, the river narrowed considerably, and numerous trees, which from age, or the undermining effects of the current, 
had fallen across, disputed our advance, so that we were obliged to cut our passage through. In order to increase the obstacles many 
of our Indians were unfit for work in consequence of indisposition, and so tardy was our advance, that on the 1st of January 1837, and five 
weeks after we had departed from New Amsterdam, we were only within one hundred and twenty miles from the coast. A succession of 
adverse circumstances had taken place since we undertook the second expedition into the interior of Guiana, and difficulties had beset us from 
the outset ; the entrance of the new year was therefore well calculated to enhance the feeling of disappointment. 
Such thoughts were passing in my mind when we arrived at a point where the river expanded, and formed a smooth basin on its 
eastern bank, while the current directed its course along the opposite shore. Something on the southern point of the basin attracted my 
attention ; I could not imagine what it might be, and urging the crew to increase their rate of paddling, in a short time we were opposite 
to the object of curiosity — a vegetable wonder ! All calamities were forgotten ; I felt as a botanist and was rewarded. A gigantic leaf, 
from five to six feet in diameter, salver shaped, with a broad rim of light green above, and a vivid crimson below, rested upon the water : 
quite in character with the wonderful leaf was the luxuriant flower, nearly four feet in circumference, and consisting of many hundred petals 
passing in alternate tints from pure white to rose and pink. The smooth water was covered with them, and I rowed from one to the other, 
constantly finding something new to admire. When the flower first opens in the morning it is white, with pink in the middle, which 
spreads over the whole flower, as the sun in his daily course proceeds towards the western horizon ; and is generally found the next day of a pink 
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