114 THE WOODLANDS ORCHIDS 



route of Forbes's travels, consulted the authorities at Kew, 

 and, with their aid, came to a conclusion. In 1890 my 

 friend Mr. Micholitz went out to seek Dendrobium 

 Schroderianum in its native wilds. 



The man of sense who finds a treasure does not proclaim 

 the spot till he has filled his pockets, nor even, if it may be, 

 till he has cleared out the hoard. It is universally under- 

 stood that Micholitz discovered the object of his quest in 

 New Guinea. If that error encouraged the exploration of a 

 most interesting island, as I hear, it has done a public service. 

 And the explorers have not wasted their time. They did 

 not fall in with Dendrobium Schroderianum, because it was 

 not there ; but they secured other valuable things. Very 

 shortly now the true habitat will be declared. Meantime I 

 must only say that it is one of the wildest of those many 

 ' Summer Isles of Eden ' which stud the Australasian Sea. 



Micholitz arrived in a trading -vessel, the captain of 

 which was trusted by the natives. Under that protection 

 the chiefs allowed him to explore, agreeing to furnish men 

 and canoes — for a consideration, naturally. Their power 

 did not stretch beyond a few miles of coast ; the neighbours 

 on each side were unfriendly, or at least distrusted ; and 

 bitterly hostile tribes lay beyond— hostile, that is, to the 

 people among whom Micholitz landed. All alike are head- 

 hunters, and all charge one another with cannibalism — but 

 falsely in every case, I understand. 



The field was narrow, therefore, and uncommonly 

 perilous, for the best-intentioned of these islanders cannot 

 always resist the impulse to crown their trophies with a 

 white man's head — as the Captain assured Micholitz day by 

 day with an earnestness which became oppressive after a 

 while. But he was very lucky — or rather the probabilities 

 had been studied so thoughtfully before any step was taken 

 that he sailed to the very island. I do not mean that it is 



