244 TlMEHRI. 
ones, the shrubs, grasses and numerous water plants, on 
the contrary, save themselves by extreme flexibility* 
Even the sturdy eta (Mauritia flexuosa), whose immense 
canopy of fan-shaped fronds would offer great resis- 
tance to a flood, derives its specific name from this 
quality, which is most strikingly exemplified in the young 
state. Then its flexible rush-like stalks and narrow 
divisions flow as it were with the current and allow the 
water to pass without doing the slightest injury. 
The creeks often open out into broad lagoons and 
here live those plants which can endure a moderate 
current and rise from the bottom of deeper water than 
those of the savannah. Some have most delicate stems 
and lace-like foliage, appearing too fragile to stand the 
least current. As a matter of fa6l they are carried away 
in great numbers by every flood, but having gained the 
power of increasing to an unlimited extent from the 
smallest fragment, they are only diffused the more. The 
most common of these is the Cabomba (C. aquatica)> 
which together with Utricularias and a species of Ana- 
charis similar to the well-known pest so common in 
English canals, form beds wherever the current is not too 
strong and the creek is open to the sunlight. Only in 
clear water can these delicate plants exist, and in the 
still lagoons of the savannahs, although the colour- of 
weak coffee, the stream is quite free from suspended 
matters except during a flood. Looking down from the 
boat upon abed of Utricularias with their delicate feathery 
leaves loaded with white bladders the sight is a very 
pretty one, while their violet-like flowers above the 
water grow sometimes so close together as to colour 
the surface. Then the Cabomba with its flowers like little 
