There he lay, bruised, half conscious, until Tuzzadeen's shouts roused him, and he answered faintly.
'Hold on!' cried the Malay. 'We come good time, Tuan Cap'n! Before dark!' Six hours to wait at least!
Baker began to stir--found he had no limbs broken, and thought of descending. His movements were quickened by the onslaught of innumerable ants, not a venomous species happily. But in climbing down he remarked that the tree-top was loaded with orchids, which he tore off and dropped; long before nightfall he met the search-party, toiling up the ravine from its opening on the shore.
Next day Tuzzadeen returned to bury the dead man and bring away the orchids; among them was Mr. Vicars' Dendrobium Lowii.
The Dyak practice referred to--of putting the father to bed when a child is born--prevails, or has prevailed, from China to Peru. It lingers even in Corsica and the Basque Provinces of Europe. Those who would know more may consult an Encyclopaedia, under the heading 'Couvade.' The house is 'taboo'--called 'pamali' in Borneo--for eight days. Hence the commotion.
For my own part I rank Calanthes among the most charming of flowers, and in the abstract most people agree with me perhaps. Yet they are contemned--the natural species--by all professed orchidists; and even hybrids mostly will be found in holes and corners, where no one is invited to pause and look at them. There are grand exceptions certainly. In Baron Schröder's wondrous collection, the hybrid Calanthes hold a most honourable place. I have seen them in bloom there filling a big house, more like flowering shrubs than orchids--a blaze and a mass of colour almost startling. But these are unique, raised with the utmost care from the largest and rarest and most brilliant varieties which money unlimited could discover. The species used for hybridising were, as I understand, Cal. vestita oculata gigantea with Cal. Regnieri, Sanderiana, and igneo-oculata--but picked examples, as has been said.
Here we have, among others, _Sandhurstiana_, offspring of Limatodes rosea × Cal. vest. rubro-oculata. The individual flowers are large, and a spike may bear as many as forty; brightest crimson, with a large yellow 'eye' upon the lip. No mortal contemns this.