oportionate. But charm and size are no
way akin. Fascination dwells in the lip, which, hanging upon the
slenderest possible connection, lengthens out to the semblance of a brush.
Thus exquisitely poised it rocks without ceasing, and its long, silky,
purple-brown hairs wave softly but steadily all day long, as if on the
back of a moving insect. Pretty though it be, all declare it uncanny.

The species was introduced from Sierra Leone by Messrs. Loddiges, so long
ago as 1835. I have not come upon any reference to a public sensation.
Assuredly, however, the orchidists of the day were struck, and it is
probable that Messrs. Loddiges sold the wonder at a high price if in
bloom. Some people in Sierra Leone forwarded consignments. But an orchid
so small and delicate needs careful handling. None of them reached Europe
alive, I dare say.

It appears, however, that Bulbophyllum barbigerum is common throughout
those regions. The example at Kew, which diverts so many good folks year
by year, came from Lagos, near a thousand miles east and south of Sierra
Leone. And the story I have to tell places it at Whydah, between the two.

A young man named Boville went thither as clerk in the English factory,
soon after 1835. We have not to ask what was his line of commerce. I have
no information, but it must be feared, though perhaps we do him wrong,
that one branch of it at least was the slave trade. Boville had heard of
Messrs. Loddiges' success. Residents at Whydah do not commonly explore the
bush, but he was young and enterprising. On his first stroll he discovered
the Bulbophyllum, and to his innocence it seemed the promise of a fortune.
Real good things must be kept quiet. The treasure was plentiful enough to
cause 'a glut' forthwith if many speculators engaged. Luckily he had a
Kroo boy in attendance, not a native. To him Boville assumed an air of
mystery, said he was going to make fetich, and 'something happen' to any
one who spoke of his proceedings--'make fetich' and 'something happen' are
among the first local expressions which a man learns in West Africa. The
Kroo boy grinned, because that is his way of acknowledging any
communication whatsoever, and snapped his fingers in sign of willing
obedience. So Boville gathered a dozen plants, and hoped to have a stock
before 'the ship' arrived. There were no steamers then, and at Whydah, a
very unimportant station for lawful trade, English vessels only called
once in three months. Slave