of an Orchid Hunter 



•93 



harpoon with an aim that very rarely fails. The 

 moment the fish is struck it darts off across the lake 

 at a terrific speed. The barbed part of the harpoon 

 detaches itself from the socket in the long shaft by the 

 force of the water, but still remains connected with the 

 canoe by the cord. The native then pursues the fish 

 until it becomes exhausted, and sometimes the chase 

 is most exciting. When the fish is so tired as to allow 

 him to come up with it, it is knocked on the head 

 with a cutlass and taken into the boat. Laree 

 quantities are annually caught by this means in the 

 dry season, and cut into long strips to be salted for 

 provisions for the time of floods. In the rainy season 

 the only way that the natives can catch fish in the 

 deep water is to shoot them with arrows when they 

 rise to the surface to bask in the sun. This party of 

 natives had already gathered together several hundred- 

 weight of fish, and as one company leaves the lakes 

 it is succeeded by another, all through the dry 

 season. 



As we kept on up the river I saw several clumps 

 of trees laden with the beautiful Oncirfium splcndidum, 

 hung and trailing in the branches, looking quite a 

 forest of orchids, their long spikes. of bright-yellow 

 flowers appearing like a golden cloud in the tops of 

 the tall timber-trees. A peculiar Schomburgkia I did 

 not know was growing here, curious-looking- enough 



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