"Go back!" Mr. Sander repeated. Back he went.
This was in Dutch territory. "Well," writes Mr. Micholitz, "there is no
doubt these are the meanest people on earth. On my telling them that it
was very mean to demand anything from a shipwrecked man, they gave me
thirty per cent. deduction on my passage"--201 dollars instead of 280
dollars. However, he reached New Guinea once more and tried fresh
ground, having exhausted the former field. Again he found the
Dendrobiums, of better quality and in greater number than before. But
they were growing among bones and skeletons, in the graveyard of the
natives. Those people lay their dead in a slight coffin, which they
place upon the rocks just above high tide, a situation which the
Dendrobes love. Mr. Micholitz required all his tact and all his most
attractive presents before he could persuade the Papuans to let him even
approach. But brass wire proved irresistible. They not only suffered him
to disturb the bones of their ancestors, but even helped him to stow the
plunder. One condition they made: that a favourite idol should be packed
therewith; this admitted, they performed a war dance round the cases,
and assisted in transporting them. All went well this time, and in due
course the tables were loaded with thousands of a plant which, before
the consignment was announced, had been the special glory of a
collection which is among the richest of the universe.
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