Letter from Robert Fortune to the secretary of the Horticultural Society [Alexander Henderson], 21 Regent Street, London and 'List of plants in cases 41 & 42, shipped on the Eleanor Rupill, Manila Feb 7, 1845'

Title

Letter from Robert Fortune to the secretary of the Horticultural Society [Alexander Henderson], 21 Regent Street, London and 'List of plants in cases 41 & 42, shipped on the Eleanor Rupill, Manila Feb 7, 1845'

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/8/2/17

Date

7 Feb 1845

Scope & content

Written from Manila [Philippines]

Postmarked (illegible). The letter includes an opened seal. The list of plants is written on onion-skin paper

Letter No 17. Annotated in pencil 'special' and 'To Mr F's box'

As he said in his previous letter, he sailed for Manila, and arrived 15 Jan; he has been travelling in the interior of Luzon [Philippines] collecting orchidaceous plants; he will ship them in two glazed cases (numbers 41 and 42) on the Eleanor Rupill bound for Cowes [Isle of Wight]; if the ship does not continue to London from there, the captain promised to carefully land the cases for forwarding them to London; he will take the rest of his collection to Hong Kong to send from there; the cases include pineapple, used for manufacturing 'the celebrated pinea [pina, pineapple fibre] of Manila', and Musa, used for making hemp: 'both seem common plants, but as they take up little room, I sent them home according to your instructions in a former letter'; he sent several plants of the 'beautiful' Phalaenopsis amabilis; he is leaving for China 'immediately' in order to reach the north by 1 Apr; the Eleanor Rupill is dispatched by Holliday, Wise & Co [merchants in China], and Gibson, Linton & Co [shipping agents in London] are the agents in London, and Sawbridge[?] & Co are the agents in Liverpool

Fortune's expenses for 7-31 Jan 1845 include 'sundries, washing, shipping, luggage &c' $4.50, 'passage money from Hong Kong to Manila' $80, 'passing luggage at the custom house' $2, 'sundry expenses for horses, guides &c' $12.50 and 'wages of the Chinese coolie [indentured worker]' $10 [here the list includes 7 more items], with £50 received from Messrs Dent & Co [merchants in China]

Enclosed is a list of plants, two boxes (41-42), shipped on the Eleanor Rupill from Manila, dated 7 Feb 1845. The list is marked 'duplicate' and includes Phalaenopsis amabilis ('30 plants, including some very large specimens'), Aerides ('1 plant'), '2 other species of Orchidaceae', 'pineapple plant from which the pinea of Manila is made' and 'Musa, from which the Manila hemp is made' [here the list includes 4 more plants]. Includes a note: 'These cases are made with one glass side only, the other being made of wood to which the plants are fastened. Many of the plants of Phalaenopsis are packed with the parts of the branches on which they were found growing'

Extent

4 page letter (2 sheets)

Is part of

RHS archive: plant collector papers

Repository

Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library

Copyright

Royal Horticultural Society

Credit Line

RHS Lindley Collections

Usage terms

Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0)