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The beautiful blue lotos (N. caerulea) grows in Egypt, 
and in Cashmir and Persia, but not in Bengal, where 
are seen only the red and white; “ and hence is taken 
occasion to feign that the lotos of Hindustan was 
dyed crimson by the blood of Siva.” 
“ Dire sacrilege! the chosen reed 
That Smara pointed with transcendent art, 
Glanced with unimagined speed, 
And tinged its blooming * barb in Siva’s heart. 
Some drops divine that o’er the lotos blue 
Trickled in rills auspicious, 
Still mark’d it with a crimson hue.” 
In China and Japan, the tanks and ponds are 
generally covered with different species of this elegant 
genus, whose large and beautiful blossoms are no less 
fragrant than handsome. This brings me back to our 
own lovely Nymphaea, which, Sir J. E. Smith justly 
remarks, “ is amongst the most magnificent of our 
* “ According to Hindu mythology, Camdeo, the Indian Cupid, has a 
bow made of sugar-cane, or flowers, with a string of bees, and his five 
arrows are each pointed with an Indian blossom.”—But however 
elegant these fanciful fictions may be, originating as they do in super¬ 
stition and error, it is delightful to see them at last yielding to the 
sublimities of truth, and still more delightful to anticipate the time, 
when not only a few, but all our llindoo brethren shall “ walk in the 
light” even as we. 
