[[1]]Copy *1
H.M.S. "Erebus"
Berkeley Sound, E[ast] Falkland Nov[ember] 27 1842
My dear Sir [George Bentham],*2
You have gratified me much by writing again:-- among my numerous
correspondents few are so interesting & none more acceptable than yourself.
Since addressing you last I have been enabled to do more in the way of
Botany than for many previous months, of which I hope not only to show, but
to give you some proofs, which may be acceptable.
The Geography of Plants is a favourite subject with me & for your sake the
Leguminosae Labiatae & Scrophularinae often come into my mind & always
recall you; so that I sometimes wonder whether you will not take a sort of
interest in seeing one, who has visited the only climates that do produce many
plants yet from which, the two former natural orders are totally excluded. I
apprehend this to be the case, without any exception in the Antarctic
Regions:-- not a single individual belonging to Leguminosae or Labiatae could
I find in either Auckland Island, Kerguelen’s Land, Campbell’s Island, Fuegia,
or the Falklands; & this absence constituted one of the most remarkable
features in the vegetation of those parts of the world. Scrophularinae are
however abundant, comparatively speaking, & attain a size & importance on
the face of the country unequalled elsewhere. The arborescent Veronica of
the Auckland Islands is a very fine & common tree, producing highly fragrant
pure white blossoms, & is of such frequent occurrence as to be very
conspicuous: one of them grew near the sea on a lofty inaccessible cliff, &
was nearly 30 feet high, covered with flowers. Another white flowered species
is also extremely sweet
[[2]] scented & the leaves much more regularly decussate than in Veronica
decussata so that we called it the "Sodger*3 Plant". The 3d is the most striking
of all, it is a shrub, growing on hill sides & producing large blossoms of an
intense blue color[sic] it is the most antarctic species of any, & inhabits the hill
tops as well as low down. In the neighborhood[sic] of the Bay of Islands, the
Veronica are all fruticose, & in such plenty as to form a large portion of the
green clothing of the country. V[eronica] decussata is exceedingly common in
Fuegia & on Hermite Island, whence we have just returned: it attains a height
there of 6, 8 & even 10 feet, much branching from the base with branches
long, erect & ascending, mostly clothed uniformly with leaves of nearly the
same size almost all the way down. I procured a few old capsules, but no
flowers: it only grows there close to the sea. Singularly enough, in the
Falkland Islands, the largest known tree, indeed the only thing deserving that
name, is this Veronica decussata. I am told that it grows 10 feet high on the
seashore in a very few localities of the Western Island. I yesterday saw a
specimen, brought thence by HMS "Philomel" of which the foliage struck me
as rather shorter than the true plant though perhaps not more so than in some
of its varieties. The officers of the "Arrow" inform me that it is confined to the
mouths of valleys near the sea, which have a certain exposure, & in the
direction of the W[est] S[outh] West or Fuegian winds but this report is not
confirmed by the "Philomel" which brings specimens from Port Egmont &
Burnt Island. One of the only flowers I have seen here is the Calceolaria
fothergilli a very pretty little species not uncommon along the maritime cliffs &
only now coming into blossom. It is the first & sole species of the genus that I
have met with in an indigenous state & it has delighted me accordingly. Soon
I shall get plenty of specimens, but since
[[3]] our arrival here my time has been so occupied with arranging the
collections from Hermite Island, that I have only been out of the ship twice. A
little Veronica, very similar to V.serpyllifolia & so called by Gaudichaud, is
common along the beach. Limosella or an allied genus, is also Antarctic,
Kerguelen's Land producing a singular one, which flowers & fructifies under
ice & water. At the Bay of Islands was a closely resembling species, & here
the L. tenuifolia (Pers.) of the ingenious M. Gaudichaud, undoubtedly belongs
to the same genus, though I have not seen it in flower & only gathered it close
to where the officers of the 'Uranic' had encamped & where it was probably
found. My notes are not at hand for reference, but I think the 2 former species
both had unilocular anthera & were otherwise different, as to their stamens,
from the European plants.
I was extremely sorry to hear that you were burnt out of your home in Queen
Square Place, & no less glad to be informed of your removal to Herefordshire;
for a country residence, within a tolerable distance of London, appears to me
peculiarly eligible for a working Botanist. My father mentions with pleasure
having been to see you & also that you have visited him. Your publishing in
the Journal of Botany must be a great assistance to that work & though I have
not yet even skimmed over your paper on the Aeroid[?] I cannot doubt of
finding it excellent. It does sometimes make me sigh, to hear of & to see the
rapid strides which Botany is taking both at home & abroad & to contrast it
with my present narrow sphere for exertion; nor can I forget how young De
Candolle asked me at your house 'why I was going to such a barren country
as the Antarctic region'. I am far from regretting that I joined this expedition &
I shall always look back on its progress with infinite
[[4]] pleasure;-- still, the few plants I have obtained are dearly won & unless
my friends will kindly help me by allowing all the Antarctic plants already in
England to be added; the results wi<ll> be meagre enough in Phonogramic
Botany. Of the Cyptogamic I do not despair, but this tribe is now sadly
neglected & finds sma<ll> favour[sic] in the eyes of most Botanists.
The death of poor De Candolle is a heavy loss to our favorites[sic] & I am
concerned to observe that the Eloge in the R[oyal] S[ociety] Obituary makes
no mention of his son: who is surely going to follow his father's steps(?) &
whose labors[sic] entitle at least to some notice under such afflicting
circumstances. Does he succeed to his fathers chair? Endlicher appears to
be working very hard at Vienna: he must be one of the best living Botanists.
Dr Lindley's Elements I like extremely:-- that is so far as I have had time to
look at it. A similar work with more extended wood--cuts of all the National
Order & their groupes[sic], would be an invaluable book to every travelling
Botanist especially to such as like myself are not quick for you can hardly
imagine how long I may be in making out the Natural Order of a plant, though
that order should be most extensive, just from its not existing in the countries
which [I] have visited.
You wish that I should see a little of Tropical Vegetation af<ter> my Antarctic
herborizations & I am much obliged to you for your kind desire, which I doubt
not is good:-- but, please Sir, I would rather go home & have no notion of
jumping from cold to hot & cracking like a glass tumbler. Have not you,
botanists, killed collectors a plenty in the Tropics? And I have paid dear
enough for the little I have got in a healthy climate.
[[5]] From our next cruise to the south, which we hope will be short, we shall
go to the Cape of Good Hope where I intend to give my attention to
Cyptogamic plants & to the more extensive Natural Orders of which I am still
ignorant; Leguminosae & Labiatae among the rest. Thence we proceed I
believe to Rio where also the lower tribes are most interesting:-- & after that I
have no idea where, & no choice.
On my return to England I shall have plenty to do working in my father's
herbarium, & when I can get enough money I should like to visit the continent
& especially North America. If entirely my own master, I would not object to
embark once more for a distant climate for the purpose of Botany & to explore
the Islands of the South Seas, especially the Society & Sandwich
groupes[sic]. I might prefer the Himalaya Regions; but these ought to be
investigated & are in progress by the officers of the Hon[or]ble E[ast] India
Company besides the expense of travelling there is dreadful. The only
circumstance which has disappointed me in this voyage is the not having
visited the S[outh] Seas. Poor Western Africa remains still unknown & the
Niger Expedition is worse than a total failure. Are Hinds' plants from the new
Hebrides at all like the Australian ones? If I remember D. Entre Casteaux's
Voyage aright they should be. Capt[ain] Belcher was a sad[?] fellow & well
known in the service.
Nothing will give me greater pleasure than to pay you a first visit out of town,
soon after my arrival in England: but you will have to teach me the name of
the commonest garden productions for I am sadly ignorant of most branches
of Botany.
[[6]] After your brother in law has got into the Athenaeum if you have no other
friends perhaps you will not think me too bold in asking for you kind
countenance when an opportunity occurs: my name is down I believe.
Please to give my kind compliments to Mrs Bentham whom I congratulate on
living near her own friends & on your continued good health. I send this letter
through my father as I cannot read the habitat you have assigned yourself.
Believe me, dear sir, with much respect, yours sincerely.
Jos. D. Hooker[signature]
To G[eorge] Betham Esqr
ENDNOTES
1. This letter is a contemporary 19th century copy, not written in the hand of
the original author Joseph Dalton Hooker, and not signed by him. The copy
was probably made by Hooker's Mother or one of his sisters to be circulated
amongst family and friends.
2. George Bentham (1800--1884). British Botanist. Co--author, with Joseph
Hooker, of Genera Plantarum: an influential work on plant taxonomy which is
the foundation of many modern systems of classification.
3. A Scottish regional pronunciation of 'soldier'.
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study
electronic image(s) of this document where possible.