178 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
at Rio, since men used it to “pack” boxes, But 
that this was anerror they soon perceived. Taking 
the town as a centre, collectors pushed out on all 
sides. Probably there is not one of the large 
dealers, in England or the Continent, dead or 
living, who has not spent money—a large sum, 
too—in searching for C. 7. vera. Probably, also, 
not one has lost by the speculation, though never 
a sign nor a hint, scarcely a rumour, of the thing 
sought rewarded them. For all secured new 
orchids, new bulbs—Eucharis in especial—Di- 
pladenias, Bromeliacez, Calladiums, Marantas, 
Aristolochias, and what not. In this manner the 
lost orchid has done immense service to botany 
and to mankind. One may say that the hunt 
lasted seventy years, and led collectors to strike a 
path through almost every province of Brazil— 
almost, for there are still vast regions unexplored. 
A man might start, for example, at Para, and 
travel to Bogota, two thousand miles or so, with a 
stretch of six hundred miles on either hand which 
is untouched. It may well be asked what Mr. 
Swainson was doing, if alive, while his discovery 
thus agitated the world. Alive he was, in New 
Zealand, until the year 1855, but he offered no 
assistance. It is scarcely to be doubted that he 
had none to give. The orchids fell in his way 
