Letter from John Forbes to Joseph Sabine [secretary of the Horticultural Society of London]

Title

Letter from John Forbes to Joseph Sabine [secretary of the Horticultural Society of London]

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/3/5/37

Date

12 May 1823

Scope & content

Written from Simon's Town, Cape of Good Hope [South Africa]

Marked at the top of the page 'No 18'. Annotated at the top of page: 'Joseph Sabine [secretary of the Horticultural Society of London] received August 6 1823'

He shipped 12 packages on board the Venilia, bound for London; the packages contain his 'collection of every kind, except insects', which he will send later; he hopes Sabine will receive them in good order; he has written to Mr Maclean [David Maclean, Custom House, London], leaving the letter with Captain Thompson [captain of the Venilia] to send by post from the first port; the living plants are all in good order, apart from the barringtonias, which look 'rather sickly' due to cold weather since their arrival at the 'cold latitudes of the Cape'; he would have sent more living plants if he had known anyone to trust them to during the journey, and he has selected those requiring little care; 'the freight will be at the rate of £7 [per] ton measurement'; Thompson has taken charge of the living plants and Forbes has given him instructions for caring for and watering them; he has sent a copy of his journal on HMS Termagant, from Sep 1822 until leaving Delagoa Bay [Maputo Bay, Mozambique] in Nov 1822; Captain Owen [William FitzWilliam Owen, captain of HMS Leven] has asked Forbes to tell Sabine that he wishes to have copies of the journals on his return; he will forward a further copy of his journal before leaving Cape of Good Hope; the boxes he had left at the Cape with Mr Cloete [Daniel Jacob Cloete, an East India Company agent in South Africa] before they sailed previously were sent by the Royal George to London; he is anxious to hear from Sabine regarding the arrival of these and the boxes sent from Rio de Janeiro [Brazil], and wants to know whether 'any paper etc' has been sent for him, as buying it at the Cape is expensive; 'I begin now to be almost afraid I shall hear nothing from you before we sail from this [place] again, which will be in about a fortnight's time'; Owen is proposing sending a party a month ahead of him for the Zambeesey [Zambezi River, Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique] to take advantage of the dry season; the party will consist of Lieutenant Browne [Charles William Browne, lieutenant on HMS Leven] in command, one or two army officers, a surgeon, a Portuguese captain and Forbes; the party will be under the protection of the Portuguese, who 'possess' the river nearly 800 miles up, carrying on 'a very considerable trade in slaves, ivory, gold dust and some vegetable produce' from several large towns with Portuguese forts and garrisons; they have four options for their return journey: by the Sofala River [Buzi River, Mozambique] south of the Zambezi, by the Inhamban River [?Save River, Zimbabwe and Mozambique] further south, by 'the Maneese or King George's River [Komati River, Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland] running into Delagoa Bay, or most likely through the kingdom of the Wanheetsans, 'the supposed murderers of Dr Cowan [Andrew Cowan, explorer, who disappeared during an expedition in Mozambique in 1808] and his party, but they are now on very friendly terms with missionaries at Latakoo [Kuruman, South Africa]'; the purpose of the journey is to survey the river or rivers and to explore the country: 'I expect to meet with a new and splendid harvest'; the mouth of the river is about 18°S latitude, running through 'what in charts is called the kingdom of Monopotapa [kingdom of Mutapa], and offers a magnificent field never attempted by any Europeans except the Portuguese, who keep all accounts of this part of Africa studiously to themselves'; the governor-general of Mozambique, however, seems favourable to the expedition and has offered them assistance; the expedition will probably take about eight to twelve months, during which time Sabine is unlikely to hear from him; there are two bills, one for £25 16s 6d from Madagascar, dated 27 Dec 1822, drawn several months after this date, but backdated because of 'the sale of the officers' effects', and another bill for £30 from Cape of Good Hope, dated 11 Apr 1823, for packing cases, travelling and other expenses [annotated in the margin: 'paid']

Enclosed is a loose sheet with a list of contents of 12 cases, including 'specimens of plants in paper', 'skins of birds', 'seeds, shells & some other natural curiosities', 'living plants' and 'coral specimens (in a cask)' [here the list includes seven more items]

Extent

3 page letter and a plant list (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)