islanders who have lost it might find solace could they see its
happiness in exile. The gentle reader thought this an extravagant figure
of speech, no doubt, but it is not wholly fanciful. Indians of Tropical
America cherish a fine orchid to the degree that in many cases no sum,
and no offer of valuables, will tempt them to part with it. Ownership is
distinctly recognized when the specimen grows near a village. The root
of this feeling, whether superstition or taste, sense of beauty, rivalry
in magnificence of church displays, I have not been able to trace. It
runs very strong in Costa Rica, where the influence of the aborigines is
scarcely perceptible, and there, at least, the latter motive is
sufficient explanation. Glorious beyond all our fancy can conceive, must
be the show in those lonely forest churches, which no European visits
save the "collector," on a feast day. Mr. Roezl, whose name is so
familiar to botanists, left a description of the scene that time he
first beheld the Flor de Majo. The church was hung with garlands of it,
he says, and such emotions seized him at the view that he choked. The
statement is quite credible. Those who see that wonder now, prepared for
its transcendent glory, find no words to express their feeling: imagine
an enthusiast beholding it for the first time, unwarned, unsuspecting
that earth can show such a sample of the flowers that bloomed in Eden!
And not a single branch, but garlands of it! Mr. Roezl proceeds to speak
of bouquets of _Masdevallia Harryana_ three feet across, and so forth.
The natives showed him "gardens" devoted to this species, for the
ornament of their church; it was not cultivated, of course, but
evidently planted. They were acres in extent.

The Indian to whom this _Cattleya Mossiae_ belonged refused to part with
it at any price for years; he was overcome by a rifle of peculiar
fascination, added to the previous offers. A magic-lantern has very
great influence in such cases, and the collector provides himself with
one or more nowadays as part of his outfit. Under that charm, with
47l. in cash, Mr. Sander secured his first _C. Mossiae alba_, but it
has failed hitherto in another instance, though backed by 100l., in
"trade" or dollars, at the Indian's option.

Thence we pass to a wide and lofty house which was designed for growing
_Victoria Regia_ and other tropic water-lilies. It fulfilled its purpose
for a time, and I never beheld those plants under circumsta