204 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
Brazilian islanders who have lost it might find solace 
could they see its happiness in exile. The gentle 
reader thought this an extravagant figure of speech, 
no doubt, but it is not wholly fanciful. Indians of 
Tropical America cherish a fine orchid to the 
degree that in many cases no sum, and no offer of 
valuables, will tempt them to part with it. Owner- | 
ship is distinctly recognized when the specimen 
grows near a village. The root of this feeling, 
whether superstition or taste, sense of beauty, 
rivalry in magnificence of church displays, I have 
not been able to trace. It runs very strong in 
Costa Rica, where the influence of the aborigines 
is scarcely perceptible, and there, at least, the 
latter motive is sufficient explanation. Glorious 
beyond all our fancy can conceive, must be the 
show in those lonely forest churches, which no 
European visits save the “ collector,” ona feast day. 
Mr. Roezl, whose name is so familiar to botanists, 
left a description of the scene that time he first 
beheld the Flor de Majo. The church was hung 
with garlands of it, he says, and such emotions 
seized him at the view that he choked. The state- 
ment is quite credible. Those who see that 
wonder now, prepared for its transcendent glory, 
find no words to express their feeling : imagine an 
enthusiast beholding it for the first time, unwarned, 
