THE PERIES Of ORCHID-HUNTING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 79

THE PERIES Of ORCHID-HUNTING.

Orchids abound ir td» greater profa--sJoa in the liot, damp parts .of the West and East Indies, in MadWascai and other islands in the seine region, ir the moist forests of -Siaal, the warm parts of Central America, and -n Western Mexico. Not dependent on the soil for their -nutriment, •fchsv are mostly found clinging to the trunks and branches of trees, t< stones and crass*, where they vegetate among ferns and other shade-loving plants, or occupy by themselves exclusively the places which they affect. Warmth and moisture are essential to orcJiids, and warmth and moisture in tropical countries are synonymous with mkusma and fever. Wild animals also, and poisonous serpents, abound \n the umbrageous depths wherein the rarer varieties lie hidden. Not infrequently, too, the collector has to seek his specimens among savage or &emi-cdvibsed peoples. who "strongly resent his intrusion into their midst. Many an oTchid-huniei has sacrificed his life to bis daring. Falkenberg perished thus it Fa-naroa, Klabock in Mexico, Brown in Madagascar, Endres at Rio Hacha, WalHs 'n Ecuador, Digance m Brazil, Schroder ip Sierra Leone, \rnold on the Orinoco, and st on through r long list of Tictkns of the passion for orchidfinding. - , , Oik firm of orchid importers reported a year or two ago that they had five colleotom killed in as many months b> the wild tribeimen of the Western Himalayan slopes; while tfanee others, even more unfortunate, .were made . prisoners, and carried off tc undergo the nameless horrors which have from tone immemorial been characteristic of Central Asian slavery. If the pay is big, the risks an- orchid-hunter runs are correspondingly i great. Cutting "his way through tangled forests, wading often up to the waist

through stagnant- swamps, always on his guard against savage beast and still more savage men, the orchid hunter earns eveTy penny of his money Even oTchid fanciers seldom realise the terrible dangers and hardships that have to be faced by the men wbc go into the wildest depths of the tropic forests in search of new or rare examples. The rarer orchids are generally found in the most inaccesdble spots and in the densest and) most' marshy jungles. Even the natives avoid the districts into which the intrepid orchid hunter penetrates in pursuit of his- floral quarry. One has only to talk with any of these men to hear remarkable stories of hairbreadth escapes and of ppaliing sufferings; but, unhappily, in. too many cases ] the daring orchid hunter never returns to tell the story. Large numbers are cent 1 out by Messns F. Sanders and Company, of St. Albans, the great specialists in orchids. ' A few years ago sight orchid hunters met at Tamatave, and then separated in '* search of specimens.. . Within, a year J only ' one of 'them survived., and fie had i spent months in the most , 6wamps, fobm which he eanerged iiih h^a i health- impaired. One of the others had. been captured by the native priests, who j drenched him with oil and burned him ' to death on their altar. ■ Fostermann, the German, who holds the record of having discovered nearly 40 orchids which were previously unki-jown to science, tells the story of how one of his finds cost a human life He was far up in the wilds of the Siamese forest when, just before sunset, he noticed with his tield-glaea&s an orchid whicl he- did not know growing high on a tree overhead. The question was whether to stop and climb for- it. It was late, and the ground was unsuitable for camping. His guide volunteered to go on ahead and search for a camping-place while the others procured the orchid. This was agreed to, and the party were busy securing ihe plant, when a terrible scream was heard in the brusr in front. Fostermaa ran as hard as he could in the direction of the sound, and was just i» time to ccc a huge tiger carrying off his friend. He followed, but darknes? fell, and it was not until next morning that they managed to track and kill the man-eaten- and bury the remains of its victim. The orchid \vas named after the man^of whose death ii- had been indirectly the cause. l M. Hamelin, one of the most successful of, vll • collectors, and. the discoverer of mam new jrehids in the Mttle-known inland forests of Madagascar, tells how, in these regions, "not onlt was our party exposed to the risk of being strangled by hostile and ferocious tribesmen. — a fate . which befell many a poor fellow belonging to our expedition — but we had vo struggle almost night and day against the wild animals that haunt these primeval forests." He himself, in the same country, hud to go through the ceremony of being made " brother- m-blood"' to King * Moyambassa in order to ' penetrate the interior of the island, an honour which nearly cost him liis life. Xn a. letter home h» says: "1+ was nearly "a year i before I discovered the gorgeous orchid ' now knowr as Eulophiella Elisabethce. Thie plant only grows in' a very limited region, and on trees of slow growth, which only begin to attain any height after ten years. To secure the orchids, which flourish en the tops of the tallest trees, I was obliged to" have the trees cut down, and then I most carefully gathered all the plants myself. Enormous difficulties .aid manifold dangers have -tc be surmounted before the coun- , try where thej' grow can be reached." ' Speaking of wild aniimals, he says : " The most terrible of all is the fossa (a carni- , vorous beast related to the cat tribe), against which *« had constantly to be on guard. One of these nimak caused the death of the brother-in-law of the ', king, a fine, handsome, well-built man. ,It pounoed upon his boulder, rending the fledh from his back and mangling him in a frightful manner. Being 'brother-in-blood 1 ' to the king, and thus a relaj tiv< of the deceased man, I had to take part in the funeral ceremony ; and, worse tWn that, 1 bad to obey their laws, which .onunand that if anyone has the moral 1 responsibility of an accident, and death is the result of it— especially of a relative — he has the choice of being greased and burned alive, or of taking the whole family of deceased and of marrying his wife. 7 chose the latter alternative !" When a hunter finds an orchid there are three ways of getting it : he may cut down the tree to which it clings, he may lasso the branch or limb om which it !iaog.s and draw it to him. or he may cut , a sapHng, lean it against the tree, and dirnSj up and bring down tho plant. As a precaution against snakes and scorpions, which are as often found in trees as anywhere else, cutting down the tree i« with iro-st orchid-hunters tl»e favourite method of securing the covsved plant. • If a man climbs a tree for an orchid < a-..d is suddenly confronted by the head j of an angry snafce in the den?e foliage, his ' chances of escape ara very small indeed, j -Many of the little snakes' of t'h-e tropics , are as poisonous a.s the dreaded rattler, i In one expedition two men wer-a bitten on tha feet. Both died. One lingered for four hours in greatest a.gony. °Such fear have he nativ-e*? .f the bite of one variety of enake found in Colombia. South America, that the\ amputate whenever i possible as the onl\ nvans of saving life On one occasion, when ar Indian j was Dittor on the hand by a snake, his , companion immediately drew his machete ; and chopped it off at the wrist. A i famous collector once got a terrible scare j with one of these venomous little reptiles. ; Two Indians came into camp with tb*ir | finds. From o»c of th-em the collector | got What appeared to be a splendid or- . | chid. It was about a foot across, and j well preserved. He held it m his hand. ' admiring it, when hk eyes weie attracted to a bright spot in the sent re of tbs

• plant. For what seemed a long time he stood there gazing on that bright spot before it resolved itself into the head of a poisonous snake. He dropped tfcie plant and ran. It was in South America that Roezl, the most celebrated orchid-hunter of his day, met with an -dv«ntuTe which, he often _told. Boezl always carried a "olding trestle, with a board to fix upon, it, which made a soTt of ctesk, with a ' camp-stool to match. His hut was the last one in the row of huts composing the village at which he was then enI campd,' and oAe evening he set himself as usual to write labels and memoranda for Iris herbarium. Darkness let in, and so absorbed was the enthusiast that he gave no attention to a loud purr, though conscious of the sound for some moments. At length, he raised his eyes. By the open doorway stood a creature whose d-usky fur glistened like silk in the lamplight, its great yellow eyes staring into his. It was a black jaguar, rarest and most -savage of all felines. So they re_mained staring. Roezl felt his hour bad ooane. He could not have moved a limb ; hi* hair rose and the sweat poured down. The jaguar ilso kept still, purring louder and louder, its velvet line slightly raised, and showing a gleam of the huge fangs. Presently is drew, nearer, still purring, came up to the trestle, arched its back like a cat, and pressed against it. Crash fell desk, lamp, specimen^box, and enthusiast— a -sLattering overthrow ! The servants rushed in. No jaguar, was there. . Roezl used to attribute his escape 'tc the fact that he never carried arms. When, the brute was approaching he must have fired- had a weapon been liamiy — no man could resist the impulse ; md then, whatevea tbx issue of the shot, he would certainly have died. In tdditaon to the dangers and difficulties inseparable from the rctuaJ finding Off the orchid, there are innumerable troubles ahead of tihe indefatigable collector before his work is done. The task of getting it out/ of the country and seeing ;t; t safely on- board a heme-going steamer is no easy business. Ir many caees, indteed, the difficulties are ahnost insuperable, and nothing but the most indomitable perseverance on the part of the hunter could overcome them. Occasionally ai unforeseen circumstance robs a collector of the spoils for which he has so strenuously striven The crue) luck of one unfortunate hunter would be hard to beat. After months of ceaseless toil, exposed to the usual rasks and hardships of ,his profession — occasionally -wading up to the waist in mud, and at other times venturing into almost inacessibte places. — he at last succeeded in collecting between three md four thousand orchids of an exquisitely beautiful and rare spades. His delight kraew no bounds and with all possible haste he commenced his tortuous journey /back to the seaboard, where his precious and< dea.i*ly-wor flora, l treasiares would be shipped to England. At the first opportunity he telegraphed to Messrs Sanders. Joy reigned in St. Albans that day at the success of the home-coming orchid-hunter; but it was short-lived. A fire broke out in the hold of the vessel that very night, and act a single plant was saved ! The unfortunate collector was nearly distracted when he realised what had happened. With s heavy heart he wired to his employers : "Collection destroyed by fire. .What shall I do?" Back came the mandate from the disappointed orchid importers : "Go back at once J" It was impossible ; the rainy season was at hand, -nd native servants were diflicnlt to procure. To that effect he wkied tc St. Albans. "Go back!" was the reply. And back to Antioquia, ; perhaps the wettest country under the sun, the luckless collector had to go.- j j Even when a consignment is safely de-spatched-^a consignment of, say, 40,000 \ plants — M 3000 are landed more or less alive the collector has reason to conhimself. A few years ago Roeri sent home from Colombia no leas than 27,000 specimens of a valuable kind. Only two were alive when they reached Britain. They were sold for 40 guineas each — not a high price when one considers wha^ they had cost. On another occasion 1000 orchids were *ent from tire Philippines. Not one of them lived. The consignment represented the year's work of an experienced collector, assisted by more than 100 natives; the expenses of the expedition were «ons«derab!e, and the dangers encountered and th* difficulties overcome in getting the plamts to the seacoast for shipment to this country sufficient to appal any man. "In this connection," remarked a celebrated orchid-hunter when recounting some of the hardships and da.neevs o-f his iema>rkable career, '• I often think, now that my work as a collector is over, that had I known at the start of an expeditior just what my experiences would be, I should have abandoned the attempt in despair of coming tlfirongh alive." — Chambers's Journal.