THE 



ORCHID 



WORLD. 



veiy brief sketch of which has been given. 

 There have been between four and five 

 hundred different crosses raised at Blenheim. 



The next house is of the same dimensions 

 as the preceding-, and in this are a number of 

 Masdevalhas, and a hmited number of Odonto- 

 glossum seedhngs, etc. 



It is a matter of congratulation that such an 



important and [prosperous collection of Orchids 

 finds a home at Blenheim. It may, however, 

 be said that many of our other noted English 

 mansions might still further enrich the interest 

 of their gardens by acquiring a thoroughly 

 representative collection of Orchids, and thus 

 follow the excellent example set by Blenheim. 



J. M. B. 



AN ORCHID COLLECTOR'S TRAVELS THROUGH BRITISH 



GUIANA TO BRAZIL. 



By ED. KROMER. 



{Continued from page 90.) 



THIS important chief, Robert, received 

 us with a certain retiring, patronising 

 air, surrounded by his three wives 

 and a large number of people, all gestic- 

 ulating, singing, or rather howling, and 

 dancing about the place like mad. At 

 the sight of this spectacle, we remembered 

 at once that we had just arrived at a time 

 when the whole neighbourhood from far 

 and wide had assembled to hold one of 

 their yearly Paiwari feasts — a sort of a har- 

 vest festival — which always last for several 

 days, and during which, as we both had wit- 

 nessed once before, the whole crowd, male and 

 female, young and old, indulge in the most 

 senseless and wildest of orgies. Luckily for 

 us, friend Robert, who alone seemed to have 

 maintained his dignity, informed us that this 

 was the last day of the festival. After 

 having explained to him the object of our 

 journey, he not only promised to provide us 

 with provisions, but also to facilitate our 

 further progress with woodskins and more 

 extra hands if we would stay another day or 

 two. The offer seemed reasonable enough ; 

 indeed, the next day a good quantity of food- 

 stuffs was brought to us in shape of some 

 big baskets full of cassava bread, yams, plan- 

 tains, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, 

 and even venison. We were well off then. 

 The good people seemed untired in placing 

 before us huge calabashes of their inevitable 

 Casiri, a mysterious beverage composed of a 

 mixture of vegetable matters in an advanced 



state of fermentation ; to refuse it would 

 mean offence, so not to create any ill-feeling 

 we just moistened our lips with it, and passed 

 it on to our own Indian companions ; they 

 made short work of it. In a friendly chat in 

 the evening with Robert, I succeeded in 

 making a contract with him for the building 

 of at least four more woodskins during our 

 absence for the easier conveyance of our col- 

 lections and ourselves on our homeward 

 journey, and as a guarantee I presented him 

 with an axe, saw, two cutlasses, some knives, 

 file, and such articles as may be useful for 

 timber work. Robert apparently was pleased, 

 but still something seemed to trouble Iiim ; 

 Robert, the chief of all the Camarang Indians, 

 was not a fully equipped Indian : he had no 

 gun, and what sort of a man is an Indian 

 without a gun. So he first suggested, and 

 then insisted, on getting a gun besides. For 

 my part I objected, as I failed to see what 

 connection there could possibly be between 

 a gun and shipbuilding ; Robert, however, 

 laconically declared, what a man needs he 

 mils/ have, and — well, well, we were in the 

 lion's den ; Robert got his gun. How ill- 

 placed my confidence was, however, was 

 shown to us later on — instead of the promised 

 four woodskins he had built exactly one. 



Thanks to Robert's masterly superin- 

 tendence we could start after a day's rest in 

 full strength for once, but to avoid any ship- 

 wreck we had to keep a sharp eye on some of 

 our new friends, who were still suffering from 



