92 THE PLANT WORLD. 



The orcliid hunter starts out from a certain base of supplies. A 

 man about to collect on the lower Himalayas, for instance, will 

 purchase his outfit and hire his servants in Calcutta. When the 

 jungle is reached he puts up a hut, building- a broad veranda about 

 it where he can lay out and dry his orchids. Many of these col- 

 lectors have met with tragic deaths from fever, drowning, falls, 

 the hostility of savages, or the attacks of wild beasts. 



Some years ago a collector voyaging up the malarial Fly River 

 in British New Guinea came upon a sacred cemetery where great 

 masses of a rare crimson orchid known as the elephant moth 

 dendrobe were growing in and out among the dead bones of the 

 cannibal Papuans. The flowers of this orchid shade from rich crim- 

 son to almost pure white, and resemble gigantic moths fluttering 

 on slender stems. The natives of the place, displeased at this dis- 

 turbance of the remains of their ancestors, menaced the orchid 

 hunters with their poisoned spears, but presents of brass wire 

 and calico soon won them over, and they finally assisted the col- 

 lector in gathering the new orchid, insisting, however, that he send 

 with the plants a quaint little idol as a propitiation to the disturbed 

 spirits of the departed. The idol was afterwards sold with the 

 plants at a London auction. One specimen of this lot which at- 

 tracted particular interest grew out of the eye-socket of a human 

 skull and was purchased, together with its gruesome holder, for 

 six hundred dollars. 



Fabulous indeed are the sums paid for rare orchids, but so great 

 is the uncertainty that they are generally sold at auction. A plant 

 of Laclia aiwcl^s was observed by the London dealer to have a 

 ring-mark on its pseudobulb higher up than is usual. The dealer 

 bought it for twelve dollars, and five years later sold the same 

 plant for one thousand dollars. In a consignment of Cxpripcdium 

 insigiic was once found one orchid plant with a bright yellow 

 flower stalk instead of the normal brown stalk. The plant was 

 put to one side, and when it flowered the blossom was a beautiful 

 gold. The owner cut the plant in two and sold each half at public 

 auction for five hundred and twenty-five dollars. One of the pur- 

 chasers divided his also, selling two pieces at five hundred dollars 

 each, and the third piece the original owner bought back for 



