e ecstasy of an orchid with
flowers as big as a dinner-plate to be found on the banks of Lake
Magindanao, a vast sheet of water in the middle of the island. They did
not agree about the shape, or colour, or anything else relating to it; but
such a plant must be well worth collecting anyhow. It was not dangerous to
ascend the river, under due precautions, nor to land at certain points of
the lake. Such points are inhabited by the Subano tribe, who live in
hourly peril from their neighbours the Bagabos, against whom they beg
Spanish protection. Accordingly white men are received with enthusiasm.

The expedition, therefore, would be comparatively safe, if a guide and
interpreter could be found. And here Roebelin was lucky. A small trader
who had debts to collect among the Subanos offered his sampan, with its
crew, on reasonable terms, and proposed to go himself. He was the son of a
Chinaman from Singapore, by a native wife, and spoke intelligible English.
The crew also had mostly some Chinese blood, and Roebelin gathered that
they were partners of Sam Choon, his dragoman, in a very small way. The
number of Celestials and half-breeds of that stock in Mindanao had already
struck him, in comparison with Manila. Presently he learned the reason.
The energetic and tenacious Chinaman is hated by all classes of
Spaniards--by the clergy because he will not be converted, by the
merchants because he intercepts their trade, by the military because he
will not endure unlimited oppression, and by the public at large because
he is hard-working, thrifty, and successful. He is dangerous, too, when
roused by ill-treatment beyond the common, and his secret societies
provide machinery for insurrection at a day's notice. But in Mindanao the
Chinaman is indispensable. White traders could not live without his
assistance. They do not love him the better, but they protect him so far
as they may from the priests and the military.

I have no adventures to tell on the journey upwards. It lasted a good many
days. Roebelin secured few plants, for this part is inhabited by Bagabos,
or some race of their kidney, and Sam Choon would not land in the forest.

At length they reached Lake Magindanao; the day was fine, and they pushed
across. But presently small round clouds began to mount over the blue
hills. Thicker and thicker they rose. A pleasant wind swelled the surface
of the lake, but those clouds far above moved continually faster. Roebelin
called at