[[1]] (Copy)*1
H.M.S. Erebus*2
Berkeley Sound Falkl[an]d Isl[an]ds
Ap[ri]l 28 1842
My dear father,
No opportunity has yet occurred, either for sending the letters already written, or for
receiving from Rio those which you have doubtless sent to me there. Still, I think I can do
no better than write to you again & tell you of our late Cruize[sic], and of what I have been
doing since we arrived here.
Before leaving New Zealand, I wrote you many letters; but as none of them went straight
home, it would be no use informing you by what vessels they were forwarded to Sydney.
One small package contained a few drawings, which I hope you received; also a chart,
which is slightly erroneous as regards the position of Mount Erebus, it being placed a little
too far South, if I remember aright [all right]. There was, also, immediately previous to our
starting, a large Box of living Plants put on board a ship bound to Sydney, for which she
agreed to take a moderate freightage money. On the following morning when it was to be
paid, the Captain demanded such an exorbitant sum, that Capt[ain] Ross had the case
taken out, & we carried it on with us, intending to send it from the Chathams by H.M.S.
"Favorite". The impracticability of making these Islands, without a delay of many days
(owing to dense fogs & bad weather) rendered the destruction of the box necessary, for to
take them to the Southward was totally out of the question. You may imagine my grief,
when, on opening the box, I found them in the most flourishing condition, the beautiful little
Tree Ferns & Pines, green & luxuriant! There was, however, no help for it. For my part, had
I the least idea
[[2]] that such would have been their fate, I would willingly myself have given the £10 for
their transport to Sydney. Capt[ain] Ross intended to have paid the freight, had it been
moderate & he had written to Mr M[c]Leay to receive them at Sydney & to the Admiralty to
forward them to Kew. It was indeed a glorious box & has cost me many regrets.
Among my dried plants there cannot be much novelty, but in the Mosses & Lichens I
cannot doubt there is much that is new. The former I have examined in the Ice, with all
possible care, & drawn up long & full descriptions, with sketches, in my notebooks. My
Grasses & Cyperaceae I have also examined; but you most likely have the greater number
of them from Colenso*3. I also made a good many little sketches, intended to illustrate the
scenery of New Zealand, but they are in a very rough condition. Now that I remember it,
perhaps you may not be aware that the N[ew] Zealand Fagus is mentioned in Vancouver's
voyage as "the same Birch, found at the Straits of Magellhaens" [Strait of Magellan], &
therefore it probably exists in Menzies' collections. I fear I have committed a grievous
mistake in my notes of Auckland Island plants, where, in my rough copy, I have described
the stamens of the little oreobolus? (n. 1475) as being 6 in number whereas there are only
3. You will be kind enough to correct this, if you get hold of the notes. There is another
species here, quite gone out of flower.
During the latter part of my stay in New Zealand, Dr. Sinclair was my amiable & constant
companion, especially about you & your new situation. I enjoyed his society amazingly, &
he certainly is one of the best informed members of the Naval profession one can hope to
meet with. On his leaving our ship, I put a lot of letters into his hands, & also
[[3]] a bottle, containing a fine Caterpillar Fungus, about which I received, from the
Rev[eren]d Mr. Taylor of Waimate, the following information. I hope you will find it worth
figuring & publishing. "This caterpillar fungus was picked up on the banks of the
Murrambidgee [Murrumbidgee] River, 10 miles from the Township of Yass (in New
Holland), on a rich black alluvial soil, with many others of the same kind. When fresh, it
was 8 inches long & nearly 1 inch broad. The caterpillar was 4 inches long & 3 inches of
the Fungus from the nape of the neck were buried under the ground, on the surface of
which is the oval or circular flower with a fringe of Tentaculae round it, of a brown velvet
appearance when alive. The caterpillar bears a great resemblance to the Green Wattle
caterpillar, which produces a large brown moth. The discoverer Mr. John Allan, the only
person who has heard of it, found many empty holes near, as if the chrysalis had been
hatched, & he saw many empty shells of these grubs scattered about in the same place, &
at night the brown moths were so numerous as to be quite troublesome. The body of the
Insect was solid & pithy, the outer skin attached to the substance of the centre, which has
no roots in it, & moreover the pith is of the same substance of the stalk, which is as thick, if
not thicker than the body of the caterpillar. Both the pith & stalk when burnt have a strong
animal smell". "Mr. Allan saw nearly 30: -- about March 1837". -I give you the above, exactly as copied from Mr. Taylor's journal book. If it be worth
publishing, he begged that I would ask you to make what use of it you pleased, correcting
the unbotanical terms, "tentaculae" &c. About Spheria Robertsii, I collected all the
information & as many specimens as I could; but am still much at a loss to account for its
development. They are found in Spring, generally
[[4]] under the Tree Ferns, the caterpillar buried in the ground as is the lower portion of the
Fungus. Now, both these Fungi belong to caterpillars which bury themselves for the
purpose of undergoing the metamorphosis, & both Mr. Taylor's & Mr. Colenso hold the
same opinion, which is, that in the act of working through the soil the spores of the Fungus
are lodged in the first joint of the neck & the caterpillar settles, head upwards, to undergo
its change, while[?] the vegetable developes[sic] itself. I do not remember your having
remarked in the Icones (I have not the number) that the entire body of the Insect is filled
with a pithy or corky vegetable substance & that the intestines are displaced, which my
specimens in spirits show well: & then, what does the muscular fibre in of the animal
become? It must, I suppose, be all turned into vegetable, for the skin of the creature
remains quite sound all the time. This change may take place, from the displacement of
one gas & the development of another; it also occurs in the dark & is hence something
analogous to the formation of Fungi, on the timber work of mines. However this may be,
the whole animal seems entirely metamorphosed into vegetable, with the exception of the
skin & intestines.
May 3d -- My dear father: Since writing the above, I have been away on a cruize[sic] to the
other side of the Island, with all the hunting party. Now on my return, the "Arrow" is about
to sail for Rio, and there will not be time for me to give you the promised account of our
late Cruize[sic] to the Southward. By this opportunity, letters go from me, addressed to
you, my mother & Liz, at Kew: also to aunt Palgrave, Bentham, Mr. Dalton & Mrs. Boott
(the 2 last are part inside of this for you, postage being nothing & I forget their addresses)
Had [I] not been away, I sh[oul]d also have written to my long neglected friend at
[[5]] Kinnordy & to Mr. Ward. To Mr. Brown I will also write, as soon as I hear that anything I
have sent home has given him satisfaction: -- sooner, I dare not.
On this Island my time has been entirely devoted to Botany, with results which I hope will
prove satisfactory. Every day adds something new to my collection, especially among the
lower tribes. During my late excursion, I found the Balka Brunonii, which I have now
gathered all round the World, a little new Cardamine (not antiscorbutica) some Grasses; It
the little Halorageous Kerguelen[']s Land plant, & a Ranunculus &c. Altogether this place is
better for Botany than I expected, & but for for[sic] Lichens &c it beats Kerguelen[']s Land.
One or two Andreae are common, with several other Mosses in fruit. About the Tussac
Grass*4 (a sp[ecies] of Carex?), the Governor is always at me: he has sent an immense[?]
report of the Islands home, & requested a description of the Tussac which the Capt[ain]
begged me to draw up, when on the eve of starting with the cattle party I did it as well as
was in my power, from imperfect specimens in flower, & he enclosed it in his despatches to
L[or]d Stanley. Should you meet with it, I sh[oul]d be much obliged by your looking it over &
seeing if it is intelligible. By the next opportunity I shall send you an account of this grass,
which the Governor wishes should be laid before the Linnean Society: it is a most
remarkable plant.
A Mr. Wright has been here botanizing but has done nothing among the lower orders of
plants. Who is he?
My old shipmate Wilmot has been relieved at the Cape: I do hope you will see him, if
possible. To all who enquire for me, remember me
[[6]] most kindly, especially to Capt[ain] Beaufort & Major & Mrs. Sabine & tell them I am
delighted with Baron Wrangel's Tour; some of the botanical information in it is curious. To
Maria I have not written, but will do so, if possible, by this opportunity. We can get no news
whatever here & in that particular are farther from home than ever: most anxiously do we
look for letters, or ships coming in.
We send these our despatches home by the "Arrow" & the Admiral (at Rio) will probably
order down a man of War to bring to the supplies for our Ship & Mess; for except for
animal food we are very badly off; our plates, &c. are all broken. Large orders are
transmitted to Rio, but how they are to be executed I cannot tell; especially when among
my wants are a pair of spectacles & paper for my plants. Of large brown paper for drying I
have plenty, but want a common kind for packing up in.
My duplicate collection for you I hope to send home from hence, but as to separating &
numbering the Cryptogamiae [Cryptogamae] it is a useless job. If I can, I shall smuggle
them all off together, for I want to be drawing & describing; not numbering & dividing.
The officers of the Arrow are very nice fellows. One of them has just told me that as the
Macrocystis grows large, it finally weighs up the stone, which was its moorings; & then the
whole plant goes off to sea, which fully explains the reason for our finding so much of it
alive at sea.
Perhaps you will kindly write me a short answer to this immediately on its receipt & put it at
once in the Post office; only
[[7]] to say all is well at home & let it take its chance. And then if Capt[ain] Beaufort thinks it
worth the while for you to send other letters to through him, pray do so. I want very much
indeed to hear how you are getting off on at Kew. Tell me also what Mr. Gardner is about. I
must, however, knock off writing, or this will be too late. If time allows, I shall send another
to Maria, which cannot go in our mail Bag, as it is now closing.
Ever, dear father, your most affectionate son | (Signed) Jos. D. Hooker.
Dr Mac Cormick always begs to be most particularly remembered to you: & so do all my
messmates.
Enclosed is the bill mentioned in my mother's letter; the duplicate shall go by next
conveyance, but this is all you want.
ENDNOTES
1. This letter is a contemporary 19th century copy written in a hand not that of the original
author, Joseph Dalton Hooker. The copy was probably made by Hooker's mother or sister
so that a version could be circulated amongst family and friends.
2. HMS 'Erebus' and HMS 'Terror' sailed on an expedition to the Antarctic in 1839. Hooker
was the youngest of the 128 man crew in HMS 'Erebus' and assistant to Robert
McCormick, the ship's Surgeon. The expedition was a great success as it allowed to
confirm the existence of the southern continent and chart much of its coastline. It returned
safely to England in 1843.
3. William Colenso (1811--1899). Christian missionary to New Zealand and also a printer,
botanist, explorer and politician. He was originally from Penzance, Cornwall. He travelled
to New Zealand in 1834 to work for the Church Missionary Society. As an avid botanist,
Colenso detailed and transmitted to Kew Gardens previously unrecorded New Zealand
flora.
4. The scientific name for the Falkland Island Tussac Grass is Poa flabellata. Joseph
Hooker was credited with its 'discovery' during the Antarctica expedition and it caused
some excitement and speculation about its potential as a commercial plant, for fodder &
fibres, which would grow in inhospitable climates. It is native to South America and the
Falklands where it grows in clumps in wet coastal areas. It has been introduced into
Scotland.
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