[[1]]
Parthia *1
July 8 / [18]77
Dearest Hyacinth *2
This we hope will be our last day on board. though the Fogs are so frequent & thick that
we cannot be sure whether we shall land to night[sic] or tomorrow morning. The passage
has been a most comfortable one on the whole, averaging 300 miles a day with no gales,
but the motion of the water & boat has so confined the passengers especially the ladies[?]
in the cabins making them sea sick in short, that we have rarely had a dozen at table. The
said motion makes writing illegible! The weather has uniformly been cool or cold & I have
spent most of my time on my back in my cabin working or pacing the deck. I was twice
squeamish but never sick. StilI the montony monotony of the voyage is dismal & we are
terribly sick of it. I never
[[2]] was so much so of any voyage. This is because the motion of the screws is so
unpleasant as contrasted with the rhythmical beat of the engines of a paddle--wheel
steamer to which I have been more accustomed.
Amongst the passengers there are none of any interest -- the best are 3 young tourists
returning from their visit to the old world. One is a[n] Irish relation to Mrs Gray *3. Another is
related to Mottley's[sic] *4 daughter who married Sir W[illiam]. Harcourt *5 M[ember
of].P[arliament]. brother of our Nuneham friend. They are intelligent[,] gentlemanly &
agreeable. I have read through Macaulay *6, Evelyn's *7 diary, Keye's lives of Eminent
Indians. Some of Longfellow[']s *8 Poems Poems & one volume of Lyell's *9 1st journey in
America. I had hoped to write a good deal[?] but[?] this scrawl may prove to you how
almost painful it is even to scrawl.
[[3]] The Stracheys *10 are excellent companions both to me & to one another. They too
have passed most of their time in reading on their backs though I do not think they have
slept so well as I have by night or day. Our Captain is a bright intelligent Scotsman -whose Scotch culture & turn of mind came out the other day at dinner when we had an
argument with someone on the effects[?] of emotion & principle which his interlocutor had
confounded when he reminded him that the emotions were slaves of the sensations, but
that principles were grounded offspring of the intellect! The officers are quiet well conducted
young men, there men sober & reputable. The Doctor is an Army Surgeon who had served
in India, an Irishman with a good brogue & lots of Irish stories, which he tells capitally. The
time has however hung dreadfully heavily & I shall not be disposed to take another trip
westwards across the Atlantic except you persuade me!
[[4]] 9 P.M. Here we are at last in Boston Harbour. a very impetuous[?] [word crossed out,
illeg.] place. We are told that Mr Mottley[sic] (Author of the Historia) & Prof[essor].
Sargent *11 have been cruising about for us all day in a Government Steamer to take us in
& through the custom House but the Steamer not being sighted at 5 they returned to
Boston & will appear at 6 1/2 tomorrow morning So I must now pack up & be ready to be
off the first thing & shall post this in town.
Good bye my dear Hyacinth. Best love to those with you & at Kew & Pendock.
Ever your affectionate husband | Jos D. Hooker[signature]
*12
I am all right[sic] at Cambridge & hearty[?] welcome -- we leave on Thursday for
Colorado.
Mr Smith *13 & Dyer *14 will please send corrected copy of Fern list to Prof[essor] Sargent,
Cambridge Massechussets[sic]
ENDNOTES
1. 'Parthia' is the name of the ship that Hooker sailed on to Boston.
2. Hooker, Lady Hyacinth (1842--1921). Second wife of JD Hooker, previously Jardine, née
Symonds.
3. Gray, Jane Loring (1821--1909). Wife of American botanist Asa Gray.
4. Motley, John Lothrop (1814--1877). American historian and diplomat.
5. Harcourt, Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon (1827--1904). Lawyer,
journalist and statesman.
6. Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800--1859). Historian and
politician.
7. Evelyn, John (1620--1706). Writer, gardener and diarist.
8. Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807--1882). American poet.
9. Lyell, Sir Charles (1797--1875). Lawyer & geologist.
10. Strachey, Sir Richard (1817--1908). British soldier & Indian administrator and Strachey,
Lady Jane Maria (1840--1928). Author & supporter of women's suffrage.
11. Sargent, Charles Sprague (1841--1927). American botanist.
12. Postscript is written in pencil below signature.
13. Smith, John (1798--1888). Botanist.
14. Thiselton-Dyer, Sir William Turner (1843--1928). Botanist and Director of RBG Kew.
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