90 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



journey had to be done again by water for 

 several days, and no boats — or, better called 

 by their proper name, woodskins — were to be 

 seen. These woodskins the Indians make out 

 of the bark of a certain huge tree (I believe 

 called Carracol). They are 2 to 2\ feet wide, 

 1 5 to 20 feet long, flat-bottomed, and the bark 

 only one-third to half an inch thick. Luckily, 

 an old worn-out canoe, or dugout, was dis- 

 covered hidden, in the water under some over- 

 hanging branches ; this was quickly made 

 watertight and manned by two Indians, who 

 volunteered to reach an Indian settlement on 

 the Camarang river in search of more wood- 

 skins, while a dozen men went back again tor 

 the loads which were left behind on the 

 Curubung. 



During the absence of these men I occupied 

 the time with Peter, either m short botanical 

 excursions along the river or with the remain- 

 ing four men went out fishing or hunting, and 

 thus providing our mess table with excellent 

 game and fish. In the immediate vicinity of 

 our camp I found a beautiful, white-flowered, 

 terrestrial Aroid, which afterwards Seyler 

 informed me was named Anthurium Osmer- 

 sianum, and also a quaint and interesting ter- 

 restrial Orchid, Govenia deliciosa, whose small 

 white flowers had a deliciously powerful 

 scent ; it grew^ in quantities in the dense 

 shade of the forest, and I intended collecting 

 some on our return journey ; as it turned out, 

 unfortunately, all the tubers perished after- 

 wards on their voyage to Europe. On the 

 branches of many of the smaller trees over- 

 hanging the river I noticed a quantity of Scuti- 

 caria Steelii, Sobralia sessilis, Houlletias, a 

 kind of Coryanthes, but not in bloom, and 

 ever so many species of Orchids of more or 

 less botanical value. Not the least interesting 

 feature to be studied here, and one which I 

 also observed in my travels in other countries, 

 was the complete absence of any of these 

 kinds of Orchids further inside the dark 

 forest ; while, for instance, a good many of 

 these trees overhanging the banks of the river 

 were literally covered with one or another of 

 the species, or many species mixed up ; it was 

 quite impossible to discover a single plant of 

 any of them on trees standing, say, 100 yards 



away from the river. This for the Orchid 

 grower is a hint so far, as it shows that these 

 species vegetate with preference m a moist 

 atmosphere, in clear light, and avoid the 

 darkness and dry atmosphere. 



On the fourth day of our waiting, towards 

 mid-day, we were agreeably surprised to hear 

 the report of several revolver shots, and at 

 once concluded these signals were given by 

 Mr. Seyler ; indeed, half-an-hour afterwards he 

 put m an appearance, bringing with him three 

 Indians, heavily loaded, whom he managed to 

 get hold of at Camacussa. Later in the after- 

 noon the other twelve men with the rest of 

 the loads also turned up from the Curubung 

 side, having made the journey there and back 

 in the marvellous short time of 3^ days ; and, 

 to make our happiness complete, towards 

 evening our two messengers, who volunteered 

 to look out for woodskins, also returned with 

 three canoes and some more Indians, and the 

 welcome news that another nine woodskins 

 were awaiting us below a big Fall a short dis- 

 tance down the river. That whole night, in a 

 bright, glorious moonshine, there was an unin- 

 terrupted going and coming of the three crafts 

 carrying all our baggage and at last ourselves 

 to that Fall, and in the morning we were able 

 to make a fresh start with a fleet of twehe 

 woodskins and thirty-six men all told. 



We went down the Membaru to its mouth 

 in the Massaruni, then up the latter for a 

 distance of a couple of miles, and entered the 

 mouth of the Camarang" river on the left of 

 the Massaruni. Here at one place we met 

 with another peculiar feature of travelling. 

 We reached a point at which, under th"" direc- 

 tion of one of our new friends, who evidently 

 acted as headman, we unloaded everything, 

 carried loads and beats over a slightly 

 elevated ground for some fifty yards and 

 entered the very same river again, having 

 thus cut off one whole day's journey, as we 

 were informed. In another day we reached 

 the first Indian settlement, whose chief, a 

 stronigly-built elderly fellow, boasting of the 

 name of Robert, had sent all these men and 

 woodskins to our assistance. 



(To be continued.) 



