A PLANTATION IN A TROPICAL FOREST 121 
minute longer; and so it goes, month after month and 
year after year. My host had one recreation—the cultiva- 
tion of orchids and rare plants from all over the tropic. To 
indulge this taste he took an occasional hour, not in the 
cool of the evening, but in the hottest noontime. He 
didn’t go leisurely at his work ; he ran from place to place 
at a dog trot, and then as soon as his recreation was over 
was off on horseback under the fierce sun to some distant 
point that required his care. 
