72 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
Europe, that will be no exaggeration. And for 
many years past they have been arriving by hun- 
dreds of thousands annually! But there is no 
alternative. An European cannot explore that 
green wilderness overhead; if he could, his 
accumulations would be so slow and costly as to 
raise the proceeds to an impossible figure. The 
natives will not climb, and they would tear the 
plants to bits. Timber has no value in those parts 
as yet, but the day approaches when Government 
must interfere. The average yield of Odonto- 
glossum crispum per tree is certainly not more than 
five large and small together. Once upona time 
Mr. Kerbach recovered fifty-three at one felling, 
and the incident has grown into a legend ; two or 
three is the usual number. Upon the other hand, 
fifty or sixty of O. gloriosum, comparatively worth- 
less, are often secured. The cutters receive a fixed 
price of sixpence for each orchid, without reference 
to species or quality. 
When his concession is exhausted, the traveller 
overhauls the produce carefully, throwing away 
those damaged pieces which would ferment in the 
long, hot journey home, and spoil the others. 
When all are clean and dry, he fixes them with 
copper wire on sticks, which are nailed across ° 
boxes for transport. Long experience has laid 
