Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-10-16
AMONG THE ORCHIDS.
THE HUNTi.R'S SEARCH THROUGH
STEAMY TROPICAL FORESTS.

STEAMY TROPICAL FORESTS.
A Sight to Make Ones Heart Stop Beat
ing-Ths Varieties Of Orchids Almost
InnumerabIe-Somsy Very Peculiar spe-
cies--Great Risks.
Imagine yourself, first of all, among the |
dark skinned natives of South America |
in a small town of rough wooden huts, |
thatched with leaves and bark from the |
palm trees. All around you vegetation |
is luxuriant, more luXuriant than you |
can ever imagine it possible to be. The |
grass so thick you can not set your foot |
upon the black loan below, and the trees |
seem to run wild with full, unbOunded, |
unfettered life. Vitality is a wonderful
force here, and nothing seems to retard !
it. You gaze up in the street at the mag
nificent palms, whose branches seem al
ways in motion, as if the very abundance
of life in them made motion invOlun-
tary. You look across at the fern trees
growing in thick clumps ON the edge of
swamp, and Try to pierce through their
rich, shadowy leaves into the thick dark
ness of the forest beyond but you see
nothing but the mass Of green and the
spikes of palms waving above, almost
touching the clouds themselves.
But all this time the hunter is making
ready. A half dozen native guides and
woodsmen are packing provisions, ropes,
axes, guns and ammunition, and knives
and pistols, into huge baskets, which
they hang upon the mules, and when all
is done the party mounts and rides away.
A winding path leads them into the jun
gle, and soon after they plunge into the
forest itself. 1t is not easy progress, for
a hundred vines are woven back and
forth from tree to tree at every step,
and the underbush covers huge fallen
tree trunks and treacherous, slippery
bogs in the marshy land. Then, too, it
is dark and hot, and the steam rises from
the marsh full Of earthly odors. But
most TO be dreaded are the poisonous rep
tiles that seem lodged under every fallep
trunk or hid in every thicket of under
brush.
FAINT But PECULIAR oDOR.
But passing through the thickest Of IL
the hunter suddenly scents a faint but
peculiar OdOr that sends thrill of Joy
through him, and he pushes forward with
redoubled zeal. Following the direction
of the scent he soon energies into q small
open space, and there just across bog Of
black water Overhanging the edge of the
swamp is sight that fairly makes your
heart stop beating-for there are the
orchids. They are on the stumps of dead
trees that were tall and fresh till the
orchids fastened their prong like roots
deep into the tender branches and
drained the life of the trees. Here they
have grown in the heart of the wilder
ness for centuries, till those sturdy trees
died because of them, and then rotted and
fell away, and now il will take but little
to shatter the ruined trunk TO fragments.
Here they have bloomed for year after
year in all their glorious beauty, and
only the reptiles and birds, the monkeys
and apes. the alligators and the myriad,
myriad insects on glossy, gauzy wings to
see their beauty and to breathe in the
| strong, sweet perfume.
They hang over the water in festoons,
every cord-like runner alive with tiny
| blossoms. There is one the natives call
"Marie poser for it is as though some
winged butterfly had poised above the
| opening flower and left the impress of its
| shadow there. Indeed, the vivid, rich
hued petals seem to have caught the very
tone and luster of the insects sparkling
wings and wave themselves upon the
tendrils like its motion.
| Other flowers higher up are purer and
more delicate in color, as though looking
up to clOudland they had caught the
heavenly tints upon their petals and
transfixed them there. The varieties are
almost innumerable, and the flowers
vary in shape and size and coloring al
most endlessly. In fact, two plants ex'
actly alike are rarely found, and rery
often flowers of different species grow
upon the same stem.
But another difficulty faces the hunter
The odor of the flower, so delightful al
first, becomes overpowering when one il
in close proximity to it, and will over
come and kill the hunter if he remain:
too long. The first step is to carefully
mark each dead tree on which the orchid
lives, and then, later in the season, wheI
the plant stops Towering, the hunter re
turns and takes them away.
These plants live on the air and are o.
slow growth, although they are so lux
uriant and soprodigal in their blossominG
many of them living to be over a thou
sand years old.
ANOTHER CLASS OF ORCHIDS.
There is another class of orchids thai
make their home in the mountain re
cesses on the sides OF the Andes, which
fasten upon the rocks, and some, indeed
which grow in the ground in the crevicet
between the rocks. Their roots becom,
like rope yarns, and strap themselves t.
rocks or tree trunks, while the long trail
ing runners swing out on the wind bear
ing their burden of rich blossoms. Tn,
botanist says: "From the Rio de la Plat,
to the Carolines, feeding on almost moth
ing, in high and inaccessible places, grow
the orchids, the most beautiful and va
ried of any flower family in lines, colo
and perfume" They often cling TO 1
mere crag, wrapping the thick, flexible
roots around and around it, and then tn,
runners festoon themselves and hans
down many feet, so that they are dis
tinctly seen, although far up the sides o
a precipice.
On the Andes and through the valley o
the Orinoco and in the depth OF the for
l A. n