JDH informs his father, William Jackson Hooker, that since last writing to the family through Captain [Francis ] Beaufort he has been busy collecting in the Bay of Islands. His collection is rich in mosses & phaenogams, including some not in [Allan] Cunningham's flora. JDH has been on excursions with [William] Colenso, who is otherwise busy with printing & other missionary business. JDH has a mixed opinion of missionaries but likes Colenso. Colenso has given JDH some curiosities of New Zealand, incl. minerals & a paper nautilus. The HMS 'Erebus' will travel straight to the ice without stopping at Chatham Island. The last letters JDH received from England were on 1 Feb. JDH's letter will go via Sydney on the HMS 'Favourite' & he hopes for return letters when he is in the Falkland Islands. [Joseph] Dayman wrote to JDH from Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania] with news that the latest communication with [Joseph Henry] Kay' contained no news of the Hooker family. Lady [Jane] Franklin has written to inform Captain [James Clark] Ross that part of his journal & one of JDH's collections of plants were lost en route from Hobartown [Hobart], he hopes it is not the collection including illustrated notes from the Auckland or Cape [Verde] Islands, he suspects it is the Kerguelen Island plants & luckily he has duplicates of most, unlike Sir Stamford Raffles, [Robert] Brown or WJH who did not. JDH wonders how WJH's situation has changed since being appointed as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & what has become of his friend [G. A. Arnott Walker-] Arnott. JDH finds botanizing in New Zealand lonely & hopes his work is worth it. Mentions some distinctive species of New Zealand moss: a Polytrichum, a Hookeria that resembles H. cristata, a Phascum, a Splachnum, a Trematodon & a foliaceous species with similarities to Jungermannia.
Transcript
H. M. S. "Erebus", Bay of Islands, New Zealand
September 21st, 1841. (received March 18. 1842) *1
My dear Father
I do not like to let a letter bag leave the ship without addressing a very few lines to you, though any time is so much taken up that my letter must be a very short one, & will serve little other purpose than to inform you of my continued perfect health & comfort.
Since my last envoy went, which was addressed to you through Capt[ain] Beaufort *2 (& contained some drawings & letters for several of our family, I think for all), I have been hard at work collecting, especially the mosses of this neighbourhood; & have succeeded beyond my utmost expectations. My Phenogamic collection too is not small & will contain most of poor Cunningham's *3 plants, with many others not included in his Flora, which is not only incomplete but very inaccurate in many of its details. Collenso[sic] *4 has been extremely kind to me & taken me several excursions, he is a very good fellow in every respect, & shown me the greatest attention, his time is however too much taken up at present with the printing establishment & with the other higher duties of a missionary's life, of which class of men he is among the most superior; for I regret to say that I was much disappointed in the high good opinion which I had previously formed of them, from some of their own narrations at home. Among them there are however many most exemplary characters & Mr Colenso's among them especially[.] He is now gone on duty into the interior & will not return for a fortnight. Fearing that we might have sailed before his arrival back, he gave me some curiosities of the Island, including some minerals & a beautiful paper Nautilus which I intend for Maria; it belonged to Cunningham & is much to be valued on that account.
You will with me much regret to hear that from this place we go straight to the Ice, without visiting Chatham Island, & perhaps no other part of the coast instead, my disappointment is very great, but as usual I must make the best of a bad job & do what I can whilst here.
There have been two separate arrivals from England since we moored here, but nothing for me, so that I must content myself with the news of the 1st Feb[ruar]y from home, for some time at any rate. H.M.S. "Favourite" has been here for a month now, & she is on the eve of sailing for Sydney to take the letters for home, & to bring back any first arrivals for us. After which she will it is reported accompany us to the edge of the Ice & carry back our latest despatches for England, this will take about a month & should she not bring a letter for me I must in expect to receive some accounts at the Falklands. Dayman *5 wrote to me from V[an] D[iemen's] L[and] *6 & told me that Kay *7 had received late news, but that this letter contained no tidings of your family, this is good news as far as it goes in so it might be worse. Lady Franklin*8 who wrote to Captain Ross*9 informing him of the probable loss of part of his journal & of my collection of plants, which were sent home from Hobartown. She must mean the Kerguelen's*10 land collections though she does not mention particulars, & it may be the V[an] D[iemen's] L[and], Auckland Islands*11, & Cape Isl[and]s ones with all the notes & drawings which took me so many months in the ice to draw up, for I am a slow worker & have little to show for the time employed. After all I am not as badly off as Sir Stamford Raffles*12, Mr Brown*13, & yourself, having duplicates of almost everything on board. & I must endeavour to make better collections as I go on to make up for those that are lost.
I often wonder how the Kew appointment has affected you, where you are, & who is along with you, as also what has become of our excellent friend Arnott.*14 It is sometimes terribly dull work botanizing all by oneself in these lonely woods & hills, & my only satisfaction lies in the hope that some of what I collect may prove interesting to you or if not that they may be valuable as duplicates.
Among the mosses there is here a Polytrichum with a triangular capsule & smooth calyptra. A beautiful Hookeria with a pendent capsule & a crest at the curvature [of] the Seta like H[ookeria]. cristata (which it may be). A Phascum -- Splachnum, Trematodon, besides a very beautiful little moss with lateral Seta & which throws out long foliaceous shoots in the axles of whose leaves are numerous anthers &c. -- its leaves too are cut & alate like those of a Jungermannia.
I shall write to you at length before leaving this Port, in the mean time give my kindest love to all, who there will be to receive it I do not know
& Believe me | Your most dutiful & affectionate Son | Jos D Hooker [Signature]
1. The text in parentheses is written in another hand on receipt of the letter.
2. Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (1774 -- 1857). Irish hydrographer and officer in the British Royal Navy, who created the Beaufort Scale. In 1829, he was appointed British Amiralty Hydrographer and used his position & prestige to act as a "middleman" for many scientists of that time. Overcoming many objections, Beaufort obtained Government support for the Antarctic voyage of 1839 -- 1843 by James Clark Ross.
3. Allan Cunningham (1791 -- 1839). English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in Australia to collect plants.
4. William Colenso (1811 -- 1899). Cornish, Christian missionary to New Zealand, employed as a printer, he was also a botanist, explorer and politician. He assisted with the production of the New Testament in Maori. He collected many of the New Zealand Flora now in Kew Gardens.
5. Lieutenant Joseph Dayman had been the Mate on H.M.S. 'Erebus'.
6. Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the Island of Tasmania, now part of Australia, named in honour of Anthony van Diemen, the Governor--General of the Dutch East Indies who sent Abel Tasman on his voyage of discovery.
7. Joseph Henry Kay (1815 -- 1875). Naval officer and scientist who served on H.M.S. 'Terror', during Ross's expedition, until he left the ship in Hobart Town. He stayed with the Lieutenant--Governor Sir John Franklin helping with the establishment of the magnetic observatory. He remained in Hobart as director of the observatory
8. Lady Jane Franklin née Griffen was a friend of Sir John Franklin's first wife. She was a seasoned traveller who proved indomitable in their life together.
9. Sir James Clark Ross (1800 -- 1862), between 1839 and 1843 commanded H.M.S. 'Erebus' on this Antarctic expedition and charted much of the coastline of that continent.
10. The Kerguelen Islands, also known as the Desolation Islands, are a group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They are among the most isolated places on earth.
11. The Auckland Islands are an archipelago of the New Zealand subantarctic islands. They lie 465 kilometres from the South Island port of Bluff. There are no permanent human inhabitants.
12. Sir Stamford Raffles (1781 -- 1826). British statesman, best known for his founding of the city of Singapore, and also the London Zoo.
13. Robert Brown (1773 -- 1858). Scottish botanist and Palaeobotanist who made important contributions to Botany, largely through his pioneering use of the microscope. After an expedition to Australia (1801 -- 1805) a large part of his collection was lost when the "Porpoise" was wrecked en route to England.
14. G. A. Arnott Walker--Arnott (1799 -- 1868). Scottish botanist, having first been a lawyer. He held the position of Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow.
15. Page 3 was folded to provide an envelope. It was addressed to "Sir W[illia]m J. Hooker | Woodside Crescent | Glasgow | N[orth] B[ritain]". It has been redirected to "Kew | London".
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