FLOWERS OF DEATH

Evening Star, Issue 21036, 25 February 1932, Page 11

FLOWERS OF DEATH

- PERILS OF ORCHID COLLECTORS

There is no justification for surprise at the sometimes fabulous prices paid for orchids, writes F, Reid, in the Melbourne ‘ Argus Supplement.’ The cost of procuring them is so great, both in money and in human life, that the real wonder is that they are so cheap. Growing in the scrubs of North Queensland and in inland New Guinea, there are a hundred varieties which may be bought at an average of half a crown each. But you may spend as many guineas as there are days in the year on one ugly little bulb which is the sole representative of a new species or variety, or which is a departure from the established type of a known variety, either in colour or in some other detail. These are the orchids which daring men seek in the evil-smelling, fever-smitten forests of little-known Papua and Dutch New Guinea. The adventures attending the search for these rare plants would fill many books. Generally Frenchmen, Germans, Englishmen, and Australians, the collectors must have the patience of Job, the courage of Nelson, and the knowledge of a professor of science, combined with power to endure years of hardship. Some years ago a collector for an English firm was sent to New Guinea to look for a dendrobium, then very rare. He went inland, dwelt among the natives for months, faring as they fared, and living under very trying conditions. He found about 400 of the plants. Having loaded a little schooner with them, he put into a native village at the mouth of the Fly River, in Papua, and the ship was burnt to the water’s edge. Ho was ordered to return for more plants, and he did. A magnificent collection of the orchids was found in a native burying-ground growing among exposed bones and skulls. After much hesitation the natives allowed him to remove the orchids, some of them still in the skulls, and they sent with the consignment a little idol to watch over the spirits of the dead. Little wonder that these plants sold at prices ranging from sgs to 28gs each. TERRIBLE DANGERS. The dangers of the collector’s task are terrible. Eight naturalists seeking various specimens in New Orleans once dined at Port Moresby, Papua, and in two years there was but a single survivor. Even this favoured person was terribly afflicted, for after hunting in the most malaria-stricken swamps he spent twelve months in the Townsville (Queensland) Hospital, and left without hope of restored health. Two collectors searching for a single plant died one after the other of fever. Another collector delayed at Port Moresby, wont far inland to look for an orchid that ho had heard of. The natives brought him back from the swamps to die. A French collector who insulted a native chief because his men would not giude him to a spot at which certain orange and black orchids were said to be growing was clubbed to death. Such dangers must be encountered always if rare or new orchids are to be found. A well-known Australian collector told me recently of a rare plant which'clings to the very tip of a slender palm in swamps which the natives themselves regard with dread as the chosen home of fevers and mosquitoes. The difficulties of the work are as great as its dangers. A _ collector named Randal waded, up to his middle in mud for a fortnight seeking for a specimen of which ho had heard. Another lived among savage natives for eight months, looking in _ unpacked forests for a lost variety. To obtain the orchids which grow on trees the collector has generally to hire a certain area of woodland with the right to fell the timber. The native of New Guinea cannot be trusted to climb to the summits and gather the plants, and generally the collector cannot spare the time. So the trees are cut down, natives being employed to do the work, and the collector gathers his specimens from the fallen trunks. This work is generally done far inland, and the plants have then to be brought to a shipping port. On one occasion they had to be carried for six weeks on men’s backs from the mountains to the Fly River, and then carried for six weeks in canoes before they were placed on a schooner bound for a Queensland port. Another collector spoke of a journey far inland as being quite easy travelling, yet it necessitated thirty-two loadings and unloadings of cargo. After all this trouble the specimens died on the journey, and the collector lost more than £I,OOO on t)iQ bulbs,-

“DEVIL OF THE MOUNTAINS.”

Only three years ago an Australian collector named Travers left Port Moresby with the intention of finding a species of orchid, which natives had seen growing oh the summit of the Giriorap Range. After he had climbed 9,000 ft several specimens of the plant were procured, but on the return journey to the coast the party fell into the hands of the Yapitze, who \.as called the devil of the mountains, a man who instigated cold-blooded murders by the dozen. For many years he was the arch-villain of New Guinea. Yapitze was a diminutive, skinny, little blackfellow, almost inconspicuous in the midst of the natives who always accompanied him. He was barely sft tall, and it is doubtful whether he would have weighed 100'j. Two years in prison at Port Moresby had given him much knowledge of the white man. After having held him captive for two days Yapitze allowed Travers to continue his journey to the coast, but he cannot say what hap-, pened to the natives who accompanied him. Probably they were all slam and formed part of a cannibal feast. Yet it is not so much the difficulty and danger which make orchids dear as their rarity or peculiarity.' Among a number of the commonest plants collected in Papua some years ago was found a plant similar to the rest in every characteristic, except that the colour of its stem was green instead of brown. When it flowered the bloom should have been green, but it was golden, and the plant became in consequence practically,priceless. It was taken to London and divided into two parts. One was sold to Baron Schroder for 12gs; the other went to Mr Measures for lOOgs. The second bulb was divided several times, each piece selling for lOOgs, but Baron Schroder’s piece was never mutilated, and it is now worth many thousands of guineas. It would bring that sum, says the authorities, in any public saleroom in London.

The good fortune of orchid buyers is sometimes remarkable. Bulbs which have not flowered and have given no sign of peculiarity are often treasures in disguise. A collector at Port Moresby once gave a few shillings for what appeared to be a common species. When it was taken to London it proved to be an unknown variety, and it was resold for more than £IOO. Another rarity, bought from a sailor for one shilling, was resold to Sir Trevor Lawrence, who at that time had one of the finest collections in England. Another variety, developing a new and beautiful flower, at once advanced in value from a few shillings to 300 gs. It was afterwards sold in five pieces for 700 gs. Simply because its flower had proved to be white instead of the normal colour, 300 gs were given for a species from Dutch New Guinea, and hundreds of guineas are available now for rare or extraordinary orchids. A plant no larger than a tulip has been sold for many times its weight in gold, and “ a guinea a leaf ” is a common and often an inadequate estimate of the worth of rarities. Two years ago thc-e was a pilgrimage to the hot houses of a collector in London. A wonderful new orchid, found in Papua, was on view. It carried sixteen blooms, each nearly five inches in diameter. The colour was a flesh white, two rose-wings of colour spreading laterally, and in the centre or each blossom was a blotch of cinnamon tint with radiating lines. But it was altogether indescribable in the exquisite beauty of its hues. There are many such gems still to be won.