"
"That is very wise," I replied, "as we don't want news of our
whereabouts to get to the Motombo."
Next we went to the enclosure, where Mrs. Eversley with a native knife
cut a string of palm fibres that was sealed with clay on to the door
and one of its uprights in such a fashion that none could enter
without breaking the string. The impression was made with a rude seal
that she wore round her neck as a badge of office. It was a very
curious object fashioned of gold and having deeply cut upon its face a
rough image of an ape holding a flower in its right paw. As it was
also ancient, this seemed to show that the monkey god and the orchid
had been from the beginning jointly worshipped by the Pongo.
When she had opened the door, there appeared, growing in the centre of
the enclosure, the most lovely plant, I should imagine, that man ever
saw. It measured some eight feet across, and the leaves were dark
green, long and narrow. From its various crowns rose the scapes of
bloom. And oh! those blooms, of which there were about twelve,
expanded now in the flowering season.
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