Sending his notes for JH's Admiralty Manual. Would have been earlier but he dislocated his left shoulder and had to have the services of an amanuensis.
[Responding to WH's 1843-12-6], JH has written to [William H.] Harvey and, in support of Harvey, to William R. Hamilton at Trinity College, Dublin. Thanks for invitation to visit Kew Gardens.
Discusses his success in growing in England various flowers JH brought back from the Cape.
Cannot supply information requested about telescope until WH reminds him of the detailed information necessary for decision.
[Responding to WH's 1845-8-21], JH states that he has not yet received the information needed from [William] Simms. Has sent a further communication to Simms.
At WH's request [see WH's 1845-8-27], JH writes in support of WH's son, Joseph D. Hooker, as a candidate for the chair of botany at Edinburgh University.
[Responding to WH's 1845-8-27], has been slow in writing recommendation [see JH's 1845-9-19] for WH's son, Joseph D. Hooker, because, not having met WH's son, wished to get judgment from James Ross. Enclosing Ross's very complimentary letter.
[James C.] Stewart has written to suggest the establishment of botanical gardens at the Cape. JH supports this idea. Would WH also?
Notes a small error in materials WH sent.
[Responding to WH's 1847-6-16], JH doubts that JH's endorsement of [William H.] Harvey's candidacy for professorship of botany would have much credibility. Does hold Harvey in high esteem.
Lord Auckland [George Eden] has asked JH to edit Admiralty Manual and proposed that WH write section on botany. Would WH do this and when could WH complete it?
Likes what WH has outlined on botany for JH's Admiralty Manual. Suggests some additions.
Extent of WH's manuscript for JH's Admiralty Manual is fine. Please send it as soon as possible.
WH's manuscript on botany for JH's Admiralty Manual has arrived and deserves praise. JH awaits three final manuscripts.
JDH writes from Lisbon regarding his journey, letter sent with one to Miss Henslow. Anticipates good passage as far as Sidon but plans after reaching Egypt are uncertain, he will stay close to G.G. [Governor General]. Discusses how grandfather has invested JDH's money & how to draw money from W. & T.[?] after arrival in Calcutta [Kolkata]. Letter arrived at Portsmouth containing letters of introduction for JDH in Calcutta. Suggests Miss Cracroft would be liked by his family & should visit Kew & wants to know what friends of hers he should visit in India. Mother to forward this information through Mrs Kendal. Reports on progress with V.D.L. [van Diemen's Land] plants to be sent home by Dr Salmon, not Miller, along with the with the Niger m/s [manuscript]. Provisionally calls the new V.D.L. cruciferous plant Bretonia. This & the Fagus called ‘gunnii’ from the m/s of Gunn’s trip should be checked by Pl[anchon?] to see if names are occupied & characters drawn up. Dr Richardson to be informed what ship the plants are sent on so he can send case of bottles by the same via steamer to Barnes. JDH to write again from Gibraltar with account of Lisbon.
JDH hopes to be at Aden tomorrow. On arrival at Alexandria 4 Dec Ld Dalhousie insisted he belong to his suite in future. Left Alexandria on Sunday for Cairo. Travelled with Captain Henderson & officers using Transit Offices steamer along the Makmoudea [Mahmoudieh] Canal, discusses the canals construction & death of many Egyptians. Describes landscape, mentions Tamarix, Dates, Acacias, Cyprus & Myrtle. Switched to a pleasure packet steamer placed at their disposal by Mehmet Ali [Muhammad Ali]. Describes luxurious fittings in the part for Lord & Lady Dalhousie. The rest of them: including the Prime minister of Egypt, messed on deck in little cabins with simple facilities. Describes the Nile as about as broad as the Thames at Kew, mentions reading Bruce's and Salt's travels in the past. River banks are cliffs of mud showing successive layers of deposited soil to which Egypt owes its scanty vegetation. Saw lonely Arabs, Dromedary, tents, & donkeys. Beyond river banks wide spread uninhabited sand deserts. Irrigation attempted here & there, houses rare & always built near trees. Numerous boats such as figured in Bruce's journey. Describes first glimpse of the Pyramids & Cairo. Few miles before the town are Mehmet Ali's country gardens and Palaces of Shoobra [Shubra]. Thinks the Leicester Square Panorama gives an admirable idea of Cairo's location. During Cairo stay visited Ali Pasha's Rhoda Gardens but on the whole disappointed & outlines the difficulties of an exotic garden in Egypt. Mr Traill received him very cordially & showed him the gardens which JDH briefly describes. Letter continues Aden 19 Dec. Describes Aden as wonderful, bleak & barren. Dr M[?] has gone to Bombay for good & is now at Scinde [Sindh]. The bulbs JDH would have are not above ground & everything but Capparis, & a few other things are burnt up. He has sent Lord Auckland's parcel of seed onto Bombay [Mumbai].
JDH describes his journey toward Ceylon [Sri Lanka] via Egypt, Suez, Red Sea & Aden. Writes of his time Cairo & the agriculture, vegetation & landscape of the region, the only trees are date palms, Acacia lebbek & Sycamore figs. Enumerates species seen on visit to Rhoda Gardens with Mr Traill, discusses problems of having this garden on an island in the Nile & recommends WJH read Traill's account in GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. Also writes observations of: visit to Fojal Forest with officers of the Sidon; the Pyramids; Cairo Pass tombs visited with the Governor General; fossil forest in the limestone desert; vegetation outside Cairo, mainly Capparideae, Zygophyylleae, Rutaceae & Hyoscyamus; dining with the with Consul General, a brother of Capt. Murray RN. Describes transit from Aleaxandria to Suez at the Pasha agents' expense. Ld & Lady D travelled by Barouche, vans transported Dr Bell, Jane, Courtenay, Capt. Henderson & various servants on roads the Arabs are bribed to maintain, Colocynth [Citrullus colocynthis] the only plant. Describes views of Red Sea & Sinai & the sterile landscape around Suez. At Suez met Col Heaney & son, Matilda Rigby & husband. Sailed down Red Sea in the 'Moozuffer' under Captain Ethersley. Sargassum prevalent at about latitude 20, describes islands passed. Boatswain killed. Saw conferovid plant described by Montagne in the ANNALES TRICHOSEMINA RYTHREENA. Passed Mocha & Strait of Babel Mandeb before arriving at Aden. Discusses wind phenomena & saltiness of Red Sea. Describes Aden volcano as resembling St Helena but even more barren than Green Mt in Ascension. Shore wooded with Acacias, Dates, and Mangroves. G.G. wants reports on tea districts of India. Assam did not enter into JDH's calculations. Also includes a printed black and white illustration entitled: ADEN "THE GIBRALTAR OF THE RED SEA".
JDH describes arrival at Point de Galle 31 Dec. Compares Cape Comorin, Cape of Good Hope & Cape Horn. Met by [George] Gardner [GG] with invitation from Lord Torrington to visit Candy [Kandy] but no time. Describes native peoples. Notes Thespesia populnea, Jack & Mango trees, & valuable timbers. Walked wooded lanes with GG, reminded of Amsterdam & Lyden. Showed GG home similar to Hartecamp, Linnaeus’ residence. Lists plant species in damp, very wet & dryer areas. Names fern species & common weeds, tropical roadside genera & palms. Discusses useful plants; Sonneratia acida wood for boxes, Terminalia catappa embryo eaten for dessert, Ficus demonum [F. daemonum] leaves to polish wood, & Artocarpus pubescens. Lists shrubs & small trees. Few parasites & epiphytes. Widespread Passiflora foetida introduced 1824, Bryophyllum & Allamanda cathartica. Discusses relationship between phosphorescent insects & humidity observed in Madras [Chennai], Calcutta [Kolkata], Behar, Birbhoom, Shahabad, Mizrapore & Darjeeling. Mosses fairly represented, algae very rare, lichens abundant. Bid farewell to Matilda. JDH uncertain he will visit Ceylon [Sri Lanka] again. Collected Trimeriza. Visited house with beautiful carved curiosities & jewels. Reminded of Professor Miller of Cambridge. Arrived Madras with GG, 5 Jan. Describes Lord Dalhousie’s military reception & vast number of natives in welcoming party. Met various knowledgeable people while staying with Lord Tweeddale. Walter Elliot directed him to Buddhist antiquities. Discusses winged lion familiar from Syrian marbles & sketches by Walter Forbes. [Brian Houghton] Hodgson says they are evidence of Asian origin of the Buddhist religion. In another letter JDH will show how the physical geography has indicated the positions of the tribes of people as well as plants, & has regulated their migration. Spent a long time with WE at botanic garden under care of Captain Worcester'. Describes garden.
JDH has corresponded with Robert Wight regarding the address of Mrs Wight, currently in Scotland. Baillieu or Arnott may have more information regarding Mrs W. JDH asks for some things he forgot to be sent out to him via the Cape, incl. Lindley's THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM, his testimonials, Humboldt's letter & a copy of the RBG Kew guide. He refers to the Ladakh mission in Tibet. JDH is struggling with names of common plants that are unfamiliar to him. He discusses the Agri-Horticultural garden in Madras [Chennai] and the man who runs it, an amateur gardener: Captain Worcester who will send RBG Kew roots of mango trees, Notheria, Orchideae & palms as he is doing for Loddiges. JDH considers Walter Elliott the best man in Madras, he is knowledgeable about mammals & birds.
JDH describes his arrival at Madras harbour with Lord Dalhousie [James Andrew Broun-Ramsay], his daughter [Lady Susan Georgiana Hay], [Colonel Francis William Henry] Fane, Courtenay & Bell. They were met by the Marquis of Tweedale [George Hay] of whom JDH expresses a very low opinion, & later given a grand oriental welcome including large crowds, a military reception & bands playing God Save the Queen. JDH describes Madras, government house & his stay there & his opinion of the people he stayed with & encountered, including: ladies Tweedale & Dalhousie; Lord Arthur Hay, a collecting naturalist; Lord Dance; Major Garsten, previously of Abercrombie Place & now resident at the Court of the Nabob of Arat; General Cubbon, political agent for Mysore; Cubbon's surgeon who knew about cotton growing in the hottest parts of India; Mr & Mrs Walter Elliott, collectors of antiquities; & the Wedderburn's, friends of Matilda Ripley[?]. JDH also describes the bungalow in the grounds of government house where he stayed & the sumptuous tents that the aide de camps live in. He mentions Admiral Highfield of the 'Vernon' and Sir Blackwood of the 'Fox'. The latter is going to survey the Teak forest of Moulmein [Mawlamyine, Burma] as the Teak on the Malabar coast has been exhausted. JDH mentions his preparations for onward travel: securing Giddy's collector and looking for servants to employ. JDH also describes some street performers & a levee presided over by Dalhousie. JDH spent most of his time at the Horticultural Society Garden. From Calcutta [Kolkata] JDH writes that he values Bessy's letters, is plagued by mosquitoes, met Robert Reddie & plans to go to Midnapore & Burdwan with Guney[?].