like a woodman's choping-hook), and finding that it sprang from a small root which ran horizontally (about as large as two fingers, or a little more), I soon detached it and removed [203 it to our hut. To tell you the truth, had I been alone, and had there been no witnesses, I should I think have been fearful of mentioning the dimensions of this flower, so much does it exceed every flower I have ever seen or heard of; but I had Sir Stamford and Lady Raffles with me, and a Mr. Palsgrave, a respectable man resident at Manna, who, though equally astonished with myself, yet are able to testify as to the truth.
"'The whole flower was of a very thick substance, the petals and nectary being in but few places less than a quarter of an inch thick, and in some places three quarters of an inch; the substance of it was very succulent. When I first saw it a swarm of flies were hovering over the mouth of the nectary, and apparently laying their eggs in the substance of it. It had precisely the smell of tainted beef. The calyx consisted of several roundish, dark-brown, concave leaves, which seemed to be indefinite in number, and were unequal in size. There were five petals attached to the nectary, which were thick, and covered with protuberances of a yellowish-white, varying in size, the interstices being of a brick-red colour. The nectarium was cyathiform, becoming narrower towards the top. The centre of the nectarium gave rise to a large pistil, which I can hardly describe, at the top of which were about twenty processes, somewhat curved and sharp at the end, resembling a cow's horns ; there were as many smaller very short processes. A little more than half way down, a brown cord about the size of common whipcord, but quite smooth, surrounded what perhaps is the gcrmen, and a little below it was another cord somewhat moniliform.
"'Now for the dimensions, which are the most astonishing part of the flower. It measured a full yard across; the petals, which were subrotund, being twelve inches from the base to the apex, and it being about a foot from the insertion of the one petal to the opposite one ; Sir Stamford [204, Lady Raffles and myself taking immediate measures
