From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
William Mitten
Date:
8 August 1854
Source of text:
WILLIAM MITTEN LETTERS MIT f.144b, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:
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Contributor:
Hooker Project
Showing 21–40 of 753 items
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On returning from Calcutta [Kolkata] JDH is arranging his journey to Sylhet with Thomas Thomson [TT], travelling from Dulalgunge [Dhaulgani], Titalyah, to the Ganges via Malda, Gour & Rampore. Then to Dacca [Dhaka] & up the Soorma to Pundua in the Khassya Hills which they will ascend from Pundua to Churra [Cherrapunji]. JDH will send 40 baskets of Orchideae to Calcutta. JDH is waiting for glazed cases to arrive to transport his collections of Rhododendron dalhousieae, punctatum & argenteum. Sent with Booth's things to the Garrows [Garos]. Discusses Lobb's character. JDH sent his father, William Jackspm Hooker, a packet of Larch seeds. His are growing well in open air, & discusses Jock Smith's technique. JDH can only collect Orchideae. JDH spent two days at Cathcart's, discusses Cathcart's collection of Dorjiling [Darjeeling] plants & his team of artists. JDH has a dried herbarium specimen of Plectocomia. He has enclosed a raceme & wishes the Benthams to look at it. JDH thinks it is Uriceous family. JDH has decided against Nepal, despite Lord Dalhousie asking him not to give it up. Telescope & Actinometer are safe. JDH expects to leave on Wednesday & arrive in Pundua in 20 days.
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JDH describes his journey so far with Thomas Thomson [TT]. They have collected species of weeds, & fruiting branches of Calamus for RBG Kew. Discusses identification of plants with Martius & Griffiths descriptions. Lists species collected: C. rotang of Roxburgh, C. fasciculatus, rose of Bengal, R. involucrate. JDH sent 40 baskets of Orchideae & Rhododendron plants from Rampore to Bell in Calcutta [Kolkata]. Many plants died in Calcutta Gardens, including Jock Smith’s. JDH recommends a cool frame to grow them in England. JDH left larches at Darjeeling growing well, but sent all Rhododendron to Falconer. Comments on Thwaites’ new position [at the Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, Botanic Garden]. JDH suggests [George] Gardner neglected the gardens for the dried specimens. Discusses Thwaites’ plan for a collection of Cinghalese plants. Discusses Lord Torrington’s character. Describes sketches from Cathcart he is sending to Fitch in London: one of Kinchinjunga [Kanchenjunga] & the range around it from Major Crommelin, & a scene of a tree fern & Caryota with K[anchen]junga behind. Mentions the death of Mrs Turner. JDH expresses doubt about identification of R. thomsoni B. JDH hopes the dry specimens will allow Fitch to draw them. Discusses naming a plant after Strachey. Commends Dalzell's descriptions. Briefly mentions Cape Comorin [Kanyakumari] & Bombay [Mumbai]. JDH is disappointed African teak is not a Vitex. Discusses changes at Woods & Forests Department & Lord Seymour's appointment. Tells WJH of Mr Francis, an Assistant Surgeon in the East India Company, who claimed to know botany, this JDH found to be false. Cathcart began a drawing of Helen Campbell but failed to finish.
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JDH describes journey from Dacca [Dakha] to Cherrapoonji [Cherrapunji], compares landscape & weather en route to that of the Ganges & Mahanuddy. Lists species collected: (Ceratopteris) Parkeria, Aeginetia (pedunculata), Euphrasia. JDH left the Soormah at Chattuk & visited Mr Harry Inglis. Describes mountains of Khassya. Collected in swamps & river banks in Pundiah. Received supplies from Falconer: brown paper, boxes, stopper bottles, spirits of wine. Travelled from Punduah to Terrya Ghat by elephant & boat to begin ascent to Churra. Compares scenery to Himalaya, Brazil & Sikkim hills. Lists plants: Areca Palm, Rubiaceae, Apocyn., Euphorbiaceae, Pandanua, Phyllanthus, Eurya, Antidesma, Bamboo, Vaccinium, Rubiaceae, Cleyera, Viburnum, Crotalaria, Camellia, Uvaria, Photinia, Olea, Vernonia, Callicarpa, Premnia, Helicia, Saurauja, Fig, Acacia stipularis, Symplocos, Sethia, Eriocaulon, Polygona, grasses, Cyperaceae, Hypercium, Habenaria, Murdannia, Burmannia, Cyanotus, Haloragis. Describes landscape including Tipperah, Khassya, Sylhet, & compares flooded land to Purneah in Darjeeling. Describes rainfall, native tombs, & compares land to England & Scotland. Explains housing arrangements, collectors & carriers employed, & expenses. Discusses problems of transporting tropical specimens, lists those collected: palms viz Calamus, Wallichia, Chamaerops, Areca, Caryota urens, Hodgsonia, Roxburghs. Comments on opening herbarium to public. Refers to Courtenay & giving Bellenden Ker Rhododendrons. Asks about seeds sent to WJH. Hopes Bentham & Wallich will write about Wight’s work on Icones in Calcutta [Kolkata] , Neilgherries [Nilgiris?] & Madras. Mentions Lobb’s dried specimens & behaviour. Mentions next journey via Surureen to Myrong. Requests Tassin’s map of Eastern Bengal from Wylds, Arrowsmith, or Mr Melville. JDH's Illustrations are all botanical he has had no time for geological drawings. Mentions Captain Cave’s watercolours. Requests volume of De Candolle.
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JDH thanks Humboldt for mention in ASPECTS OF NATURE. JDH mentions his imprisonment by the Rajah with [Archibald] Campbell. He writes regarding geography of the Himalayas. He discusses heights of certain peaks determined by the Surveyor General & Captain Thullier & also determining elevation using native & cultivated vegetation as indicators, e.g. at Lhassa. He describes the location, extent & nature of mountain groups with reference to landmarks & some mention of the different people, vegetation, snowline & climate. His description covers: Chumalari, Kinchin-Junga [Kanchenjunga] between rivers Teesta & Arun, Dwhalgiri [Dhaulagiri], Gossain-Than between Gundule & Gogra, Jewahir, a group dividing Soubansiri & the Morass, Patchion Valley, Donkiah between Matchoo [Mo Chhu] & Lachen, Mansarovar, Kamtchoo[?] Lakes, U & Tsang provinces, Dingchaun Province, Ramtchin, Kiong-lah range incl. Odoos & Mateltons, Yarou river, Mendoling & Darjeeling. He discusses the boundaries of Nepal, Tibet, Sikkim, China & Bhutan mentioning Puri. JDH presents theory that Himalayas are spurs of a larger mountain chain, but does not think they are 'the mountain Axis in Asia'. Thomson thinks Karakoran & Miztagh are continuation of the' axis' from Mansarowar: a 'noued' on the Sutlej & Indus rivers. Discusses the monsoons in Sikkim, Garrows, Rajmahal Mts , Bhutan Mts & Khossyeh [Khasia]. Discusses the vegetation in Tibet: Lonicera, Rhododendron, Zarruchillia, Ranunculus, Graphalinea, Saussurea, Artemisia, Erejeron, Astragalus, Valeriana, Loniera, Rosa, Berberis, insects & animals he has seen & how the pines differ there. Rocks & geological formations in the Himalayas incl: Gneiss, Granites, fossilferous limestone, Mica, Clay, Sandstone & coal, hot-springs with sulphurous salts, moraines & glaciers that show Himalayas are sinking. JDH will visit Cachar, Chittagong & Arracan before leaving for Calcutta [Kolkata] & England. Hodgson is ill & JDH heard about Prince of Prussia's accident.
JDH is travelling again. He has written to Humboldt, who mentioned JDH in his ASPECTS OF NATURE. JDH has received letter from WJH reporting safe arrival of his collections & also letter from Jock Smith on progress of Rhododendrons. JDH is collecting seeds for WJH as well as tree ferns, incl. three Alsophila & one with the coriaceous frond pinnate of Blechnum. He does not have much seed of Taenitis. [Hugh] Falconer [HF] informed JDH that Colvile was ill but recovered, however [Archibald] Campbell wrote that [Brian Houghton] Hodgson is still sick & his mind 'out of order'. JDH is now east of China & adding a lot to his collection, especially grasses, ferns & Orchideae with the recent addition of some Labiatae & Compositae & the expectation of Nepenthes. He has found a Geniosporum that smells of Patchouli & a Plectranthus patchouli that doesn't. HF says Kashmir shawls are scented with Kortus not Patchouli. The last Kew Annual JDH has is from Feb. JDH will send two Podostemon spp. He discusses Triurideae with reference to Mier's paper & Gardner & Lindley attributing them to Naiads or Smilacineae based on the characteristics of their albumin. JDH has found Nymphaea & Griffith's floating Eriocaulon in marshland but not his Hydropeltis. He mentions the presence of oaks. JDH writes about Jung Bahadur [Prime Minister of Nepal]: his character & expectations of meeting the Queen, & the tendency of 'orientals' to kill family members to gain positions of power. JDH asks about the distribution of Griffith's collections. He questions whether WJH has confused two species of Balanophora with the two sexes & a third with Phaeocordylis.
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