156 Travels and Adventures 



especially along the banks of one small stream, where 

 the trees are literally covered with Cattleya labiata. 

 When I passed that way a large number of them 

 were in flower, presenting a sight of indescribable 

 orchid beauty. Further along I met with a pretty 

 delicate variety of Comparettia hung on the very tips 

 of the branches of a kind of willow overhanging the 

 water, so near that in the rainy season they must 

 be submerged, while the majority of .them must 

 always be wet with spray. The village of La Palma 

 is one of the best of the old Spanish style, most 

 curiously situated in a hollow of the tops of the moun- 

 tains, which look like extinct volcanoes. The people 

 are remarkably hospitable, and receive all travellers 

 with the greatest kindness. Unhappily, the magni- 

 ficent varieties of Warscewiczii have been cleared 

 away from the neighbourhood long ago, and now, as 

 in other parts, the orchid collector must take a journey 

 of at least two days into the heart of the forest to get 

 his plants, or send someone and wait three weeks in 

 idleness and suspense in a monotonous village. The 

 track into the forest is miserably bad, and to reach 

 the plants is even dangerous ; but those who have 

 seen them in their forest home in all the glory of 

 Cattleya Warscewiczii will admit with me that the 

 sight is worth all the trouble of forest life. When 

 I say that the sight of the plant in flower is very 



