220 
BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 
dawn of creation is represented by a leaf divided into 
light and darkness; when 
“ The heavens and the earth 
Rose out of chaos.” 
And the story of the ages has in like manner been written 
in symbols of leaves and flowers. 
Of the flowers consecrated to religious deities by 
the symbol worshippers of India and Egypt, none 
occupy a more prominent position than the lotos. Its 
sacred leaf was the 
u Emblem and cradle of creative Night.” 
It was anciently revered in Egypt, as it is at this day 
at Hindostan, Thibet, and Nepaul, where they believe it 
was in the consecrated bosom of this plant that Brahma 
was born, and on which Osiris delights to float. Natu¬ 
ralists have differed in opinion whether the celebrated 
Lotos was a hero, a flower, or a tree. Some authors have 
affirmed that it was a rough, thorny shrub, the seeds 
of which were to make bread; but the testimony of 
Herodotus, that the lotos is a species of water-lily, 
which grows in abundance in the Nile during the in¬ 
undations, is so very conclusive, that no other solution of 
the question can be accepted. Herodotus bears testi¬ 
mony to the high antiquity of the Egyptian venera¬ 
tion for the lotos, and M. Savary assures us that at 
the present day, the degenerate children of the Nile are 
animated by the same feelings of worship and veneration. 
It was called the “Lily of the Nile/* from its growing 
in abundance on the banks, and in the marshes which 
