AN ORCHID FARM. 199 
So strong indeed was his confidence that he de- 
spatched a man post-haste over the Atlantic to 
explore the Roraima mountain; and, further, gave 
him strict injunctions to collect nothing but this 
precious species. For eight months the traveller 
wandered up and down among the Indians, search- 
ing forest and glade, the wooded banks of streams, 
the rocks and clefts, but he found neither C. /abzata 
nor that curious plant which Sir Robert Schom- 
burgk described. Upon the other hand, he came 
across the lovely Utricularia Campbelli, and in 
defiance of instructions brought it down. But 
very few reached England alive. For six weeks 
they travelled on men’s backs, from their mountain 
home to the River Essequibo ; thence, six weeks in 
canoe to Georgetown, with twenty portages; and, 
so aboard ship. The single chance of success lies 
in bringing them down, undisturbed, in the creat 
clumps of moss which are their habitat, as is the 
Vriesia of other species. 
I will allow myself a very short digression here. 
It may seem unaccountable that a plant of large 
growth, distinct flower, and characteristic appear- 
ance, should elude the eye of persons trained to 
such pursuits, and encouraged to spend money on 
the slightest prospect of success, for half a century 
and more. But if we recall the circumstances it 
