Although at that time I had never seen a gorilla in the flesh, I had
seen a coloured picture of the brute, and if that picture had been
photographed on the flower the likeness could not have been more
perfect.

"What is it?" I asked, amazed.

"Sir," said Brother John, sometimes he used this formal term when
excited, "it is the most marvellous Cypripedium in the whole earth,
and, sir, I have discovered it. A healthy root of that plant will be
worth £20,000."

"That's better than gold mining," I said. "Well, have you got the
root?"

Brother John shook his head sadly as he answered:

"No such luck."

"How's that as you have the flower?"

"I'll tell you, Allan. For a year past and more I have been collecting
in the district back of Kilwa and found some wonderful things, yes,
wonderful. At last, about three hundred miles inland, I came to a
tribe, or rather, a people, that no white man had ever visited. They
are called the Mazitu, a numerous and warlike people of bastard Zulu
blood."

"I have heard of them," I interrupted. "They broke north before the