of an Orchid Hunter. wj 



the river Subi, after creeping along the plain for some 

 distance, suddenly falls over the rocks with a hound of 

 a hundred feet, resolving itself into spray and rain- 

 bows in the chasm below. I had been informed that 

 Cattleya Mendclii was still to be found in quantities 

 on the eastern range of the Andes ; so, after leaving 

 the precipices of Subi, I turned off in the direction of 

 a small village called Curiti, at the foot of the ranofe of 

 mountains so celebrated for orchids. Here I left my 

 mules and proceeded on foot. The vegetation is 

 somewhat semi-tropical, lovely ferns and selaginellas 

 being very luxuriant, as well as the feathery bamboos, 

 but with an absence of the fine, rich timber-trees and 

 tow r ering palms of the lower grounds. Here, amongst 

 the scores of humminor-bircls which flit from flower to 

 flower, I made the acquaintance of one which I had 

 not seen before, and which, I believe, was the prettiest 

 I had ever seen. This is known in England as the 

 Blue Sylph, having two long feathers in the tail like 

 those of the swallow, but of the most resplendent 

 metallic blue. Here also the rare and beautiful 

 Swallow-tailed Kite may be seen wheeling gracefully 

 overhead all day, but far out of gun-shot. I had not 

 far to go before I was rewarded with the object of my 

 search in the myriads of Bromeliacece and orchids 

 which literally cover the short, stunted trees and the 

 bare points of rocks, where scarcely an inch of soil is 

 I* 



