336 PURCHASE OF ORCHIDS. ([Caar. XVIII. 
safety. I counsel all travellers to beware of cross- 
ing the Laguna; by day and I took good care to 
avoid doing so on my return. 
Having landed I made the best of my way to 
the farm of Don Inego Gonzales de Azaola, whom 
I had met in Manila, and who had kindly offered 
me the use of his house in the interior. My chief 
object in visiting this part of the country was to 
procure, if possible, a supply of the beautiful or- 
chid (Phalenopsis amabilis), which Cuming had 
sent home a few years before, but which was still 
extremely rare in England. His Grace the Duke 
of Devonshire purchased the first plant, for which 
he gave the large sum of one hundred guineas. 
As I had very little time to spare, I was anxious 
to make the most of my opportunities. I made 
an Indian’s hut in the wood my head quarters 
where I held a sort of market for the purchase 
of orchids. The Indians knew the hour at which 
I should return to the hut, and on my arrival I 
generally found the ground in front strewed with 
orchids in the state in which they had been cut 
from the trees, and many of them covered with 
flowers. The Phalenopsis, in particular, was sin- 
gularly beautiful. I was very anxious to get some 
large specimens of the plant, and offered a dollar, 
which was a high sum in an Indian forest, for the 
largest which should be brought to me. The lover 
of this beautiful tribe will easily imagine the de- 
light I felt, when, one day I saw two Indians ap- 
proaching with a plant of extraordinary size, 
