214 
L’Heureuse A venture. 
awful shrieking was truly horrible and one can hardly imagine anything 
more terrible than those frightened figures with bald heads and bloody 
faces. Under these circumstances I gladly accepted Mr. Bach’s invita- 
tion to spend a little time on his estate where I would find an infinitely 
richer field for my botanical excursions than what the environs of the 
city could now offer me. I was soon sitting beside my kindly host who, 
just returning from town as a member of the Colonial Parliament, Avas 
now on liis way up the Demerara to Number One Canal, Avhere his fine 
estate of L'Heureuse Aventure Avas close by. The pretty residence was 
situate about 100 paces distant from the canal, and connected with it by 
a Avonderful avenue of orange trees and of tlowering Agaves that spread 
out their 50 to 60 foot high flower-stalks like colossal candelabra: for 
one of these giants stood regularly between every two orange trees. A 
glorious hedge of Clerodendron i nenne, carefully trimmed Avith shears, 
surrounded the front of the desirable mansion that had been built in 
Dutch style. The out-houses stretched away to the right of the avenue 
while a large green pasture, planted up with huge Erythrina Coralloden- 
dron trees that sheltered a herd of coavs resting under their shadows, led 
away to the left. The garden, which had roused my curiosity ever since 
T came to America, immediately bordered this grassy spot. The interior 
of the building Avas quite as nice as the outside, but it did not interest 
me just now. My curiosity drove me out again to see the cultivation 
which latter had also been described to me as a model farm. 
Having already received the orchids collected by my brother 
in the interior during his journeys in the years 1838-1839, an 
almost complete collection of all the Guiana orchids was to be seen 
gathered here in a comparatively small space. There was not a tree 
trunk that did not have growing upon and below it the most beautiful 
plants and blossoms, while huge stands with hundreds of boxes contained 
the young plants for which no more room was to be found on the 
trees and branches. The glorious Cattleya superba Schomb., Burling- 
tonia Candida Lindl., Coryanthes maculata Hook., C. macrantha 
Hook., Schomburgkia , Epidendron, Brassavola, Barkeria, Blctid, 
Aspasia, Maxillaria, Huntleya, Cycnoches, Catasetum, Stanhopea, 
Gongora, Peristeria, Monachanthus, Gymbidium, Zygopetalum, 
Jonopsis, Rodriguema, Fernandezia, Pleurothallis ,, Bms'eia, E ob r alia, 
Cleistes, Vanilla , Cyrtopodium, and Galeandra with all their known 
species were grouped together according to the colours of their flowers, 
and formed in fact a real Fairy Garden in Avhicli almost every sense 
found free indulgence. Remaining indigenous and foreign families 
planted in beds for which the lovely Amaryllis Belladonna formed a 
border were equally as fully represented as the orchids. A thicket 
of Gardenia florida and Hibiscus rosa sinensis encircled a small pond 
upon the surface of “which the glorious E ichor nia azurea Kunth., Lim- 
nocharis Humboldtii Rich., Burma, nn/ia bicolor and a number of 
Nymphaeae spread their motley covering of flowers: above it a huge 
Cassia fistula stretched its branches hung Avith innumerable seed-pods 
an ell long. Sad to say one still missed among the Nymphaeae the 
