ODONTOGLOSSUiM HARRYANUM 233 



explained his object, as gently as he could. The planter 

 flamed out at once, dropped his Castilian manners, and 

 vowed he would shoot any man found gathering orchids on 

 his estate, Kerbach withdrew. Next day he visited two 

 other hacienderos of the district. But Don Filipe had 

 preceded him. Less rudely but with equal firmness the 

 landowners forbade him to collect on their property. 



A brief explanation is needed. In those parts of South 

 America, where the value of orchids is known to every child, 

 a regular system has been introduced long since. As a rule 

 almost invariable, the woods belong to some one, however 

 far from a settlement. With this personage the collector 

 must negotiate a lease, as it is called, a formal document, 

 stamped and registered, which gives him authority to cut 

 down trees — for the peons will not climb. At the begin- 

 ning, doubtless, they shrewdly perceived that to fell a stout 

 trunk would pay them infinitely better — since they receive a 

 daily wage — than to strip it, besides the annoyance from 

 insects and the risk from snakes which they elude. At the 

 present time this usage has become fixed. ^ 



Without the assistance of peons, Kerbach could not 

 possibly get plants sufiicient to ship. To cut down trees 

 without authority would be a penal offence, certainly detected. 

 He explored the country at a distance and found nothing. 

 It was necessary to come to terms with Don Filipe at any 

 cost or abandon the enterprise. Meantime letters reached 

 Amalfi describing the new Odontoglossum, with a picture 

 showing the foliage. It was that he had found. The 

 treasure hung within reach, and a pig-headed Indian forbade 

 him to grasp it. 



^ Two or three years ago, however, the Government of New Granada 

 made a law forbidding such destruction of trees — a measure which has 

 happily reduced the output of orchids, since the natives are unwilling to 

 climb for them. 



