Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton
JHC320
HMS 'Erebus', Berkeley Sound, East Falkland, Falkland Islands
JDH/1/2 f.142-143
Boott (nee Hardcastle), Mary
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
28-11-1842
© Descendants of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
Correspondence from Antarctic Expedition
The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
English
Contemporary MS copy
5 page letter over 2 folios
 

JDH thanks Mrs Mary Boott & her husband Dr Francis Boott for their letters. He associates the Boott's with his youngest sister Mary [Mary Harriet Hooker] who has died from consumption. He is glad to hear that his parents are in good health, he mentions a previous illness of his Father; Sir William Jackson Hooker. JDH is glad that Dr Boott is 'restored'. He is always glad to hear news of what is happening in London, especially in the arts, he comments specifically on the Chinese Exhibition at Hyde Park Corner, a cockney 'Skaiting' shop & skating trips to Margate. He discusses the formation of 'taste' regarding fine art, especially in the colonies where there are fewer example of good pictures. Whilst at sea JDH misses music & paintings, all their 'boxes' [accordions] are broken & the only music is his own whistling. Captain [James Clark] Ross remembers young Frank [Boott] from the Linnean Society. JDH is glad his descriptions of Antarctica entertained Mrs Boott, he explains that most of the time they are surrounded by a 'dreary waste of ice' sometimes enlivened by sights such as the erupting volcano Mt Erebus, the first sighting of which he recounts. He writes that to be an Antarctic voyager is to feel helpless, entirely dependent on a ship which is just a speck in a vast ice-scape. Since last writing JDH has been to Hermite Island near Cape Horn & to one of the Fuegian islands where he has found the winters mild compared to his expectations from the accounts of Joseph Banks & Dr Solander. He describes the cloudy atmosphere & luxuriant vegetation comparing it to the desolate Falkland Islands. Describes sailing under the cliff of Cape Horn which was covered in Fuegian Beeches. Describes the dramatic hills of Fuegia.

Transcript

away from our interest, at the time, but enhances it afterwards. The insignificance of a ship, when, from the mast head, nothing can be descried around, but a waste of dreary ice, which is all the world, for a time:-- no animated object to relieve the eye, from the immediate neighbourhood, to where this earth of sea meets the sky, is perhaps, (next to being close under a good iceberg) the most striking object presented to the Antarctic Voyager:-- his own helpless state & entire dependence on this little speck, his good ship, must ever be felt. – however true[?] the real danger may be.
Since I addressed you, more than 6 months ago, we have had a most pleasant trip to Hermite Island, close to Cape Horn & one of the Fuegian groupe. This part of the world has always to me the character of being eminently rigorous & inhospitable, -- very much because poor Sir Joseph Banks & Dr. Solander, after being accustomed to tropical heat & that hottest of harbours, Rio de Janeiro, were rather suddenly cooled down here in the height of summer. The climate in winter is, however, as mild in proportion as the summers are chilly:-- the annual temperature, is assuredly low, but the average of that of each season are remarkably close.
The hills, catching all the vapors, cause a cloudy atmosphere, which added to the depth of the valleys, & other circumstances connected with the formation of the land, prevent the Sun's rays from having much effect on the earth. The richness of the soil, the moisture & shelter of these valleys, nourish a most luxuriant vegetation; whereas the flat & desolate Falklands cannot boast one of these requisites for the production & subsistence of trees.
On my way up from St Martin's Cove we passed close under the cliff of Cape Horn, so near that we could describe the birds upon it, & the day was so fine that we enjoyed it extremely. Cape Horn is far from being

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(Copy) *1
H.M.S. Erebus. Berkeley Sound East Falkland. Nov. 28. 1842. (rec[eive]d March 6. 1843)
My dear Mrs [Mary] Boott*2,
On our return, the other day, from the immediate neighbourhood of Cape Horn, I had the great pleasure of receiving your kind & prompt reply to a letter of mine, the perusal of which can never have given you half the pleasure that I received from yours, which was accompanied by two from Dr. Boott*3. I am at a loss how to express my obligations for such a degree of kindness as only your own affectionate disposition could have prompted.
As my dear little sister Mary is the first person with whom you & Dr. Boott's name comes connected to me I cannot pass her memory without a word. It is true, from the tenor of my kind parents' letters, I never expected to see her again: & thus the bitter pang of knowing her to be dead was past soon after the receipt of those letters at the Bay of Islands. But still it was impossible to help "hoping against hope"; & my dreams, both by night & by day, were often filled with the possibility of meeting her once more. I am no believer in presentiments, or any such preternatural hallucinations; but having been told before quitting England that she appeared constitutionally liable to consumption, I often remembered with pain those beautiful lines "If never again on earth we meet, And this our parting be for ever" &c, -- and these she enclosed, in her letter to me, before my sailing from England.
Your account of the state of health and happiness in which my parents now live is truly cheering, for I had greatly feared

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that my father's late illness had perhaps made an inroad upon his constitution: that such, however, is happily not the case. I am truly thankful: nor must I fail to congratulate you upon Dr. Boott's restoration, which my Father mentions with great satisfaction. I shall write to him myself & thank him if I do nothing more.
You fear that your letter may not prove interesting because so many stirring scenes are presented to my eyes. Believe me however that you gratify me highly by mentioning the progress which is making in London by the Arts, as they appeal to persons in my own sphere of life & whose sight is unprejudiced, as well as their minds. The speculation of that American gentleman*4, who has conveyed China itself to England is really marvellous & quite characteristic of a nation, whose enterprize in Trade is as remarkable as in Science. The skaiting[sic] shop is a capital specimen of the spirit of true Cockneys. Who but they would call going to Margate a sea voyage? or would endure to slide, like children in a boarded room, comparing it, the while, to the manly & healthful sport of skaiting? -- even in name. I often regret that I never saw any pictures which can be called good. A taste relish for this branch of the Fine Arts has not yet extended to the colonies whose children cannot be expected to exercise taste, when the parents have no models to show them. My own taste on such subjects was never formed; though, like most persons, I knew what pleased me, I was much soothed when I was told (on regretting this circumstance) that Joshua Reynolds never could appreciate any part of a painting, till he had seen it several times. Sir Walter Scott, I think, in Paul's letters to his Kinsfolk, says, when speaking of the Louvre in its palmy days, that the beauties of the finest pictures do not strike all at once. Without comparing myself to either of these

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great men, I must say that next to the want of society, the want of music and painting is one of the most irksome that a sea voyager is bound to endure. When I have been weary of work, even a tinkling musical toy has sounded most charming: but all the boxes, have at last been broken or given away, my sole consolation remains in whistling those tunes which most recall pleasant scenes to my memory, - though this is sorely to the annoyance of my neighbours, who growl, like free--born Britons, at the noise I make.
Capt. Ross remembers my old friend Frank at the Linnaean Society, & sends, with kind regards, his hopes that he will grow up to be a Naturalist & a man like his father.
I am very glad you have gleaned something interesting, or what you flatter me by calling so, from my letter. The scenes it attempted to describe were truly extraordinary, so much so that I cannot recall the unrivalled coup d'oeil to my mind at once. And yet, when actually there, it is only on certain occasions, that the full force of the view is felt, for such days as permitted me to lean over the gangway for an hour, musing on the land, sea & ice--scape were few & far between. "Mount Erebus" itself was first seen as land:-- then as an island:-- it had a cloud on its summit, that cloud was smoke:-- it certainly appeared very high; but from the deceptive effect of perspective (especially when interfered with by snow) it was brought forward & thus its true elevation was masked. 21 hours after its discovery, it was pleased to become active & even then we did not suppose it was to be the farthest South land discovered:-- & lastly, it was not till more than a week after, that this Volcano proved to be joined to that continent which we had traced from 71° Southwards. All these things coming in slow succession, take

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away from our interest, at the time, but enhances it afterwards. The insignificance of a ship, when, from the mast head, nothing can be descried around, but a waste of dreary ice, which is all the world, for a time:-- no animated object to relieve the eye, from the immediate neighbourhood, to where this earth of sea meets the sky, is perhaps, (next to being close under a good iceberg) the most striking object presented to the Antarctic Voyager:-- his own helpless state & entire dependence on this little speck, his good ship, must ever be felt. – however true[?] the real danger may be.
Since I addressed you, more than 6 months ago, we have had a most pleasant trip to Hermite Island, close to Cape Horn & one of the Fuegian groupe. This part of the world has always to me the character of being eminently rigorous & inhospitable, -- very much because poor Sir Joseph Banks & Dr. Solander, after being accustomed to tropical heat & that hottest of harbours, Rio de Janeiro, were rather suddenly cooled down here in the height of summer. The climate in winter is, however, as mild in proportion as the summers are chilly:-- the annual temperature, is assuredly low, but the average of that of each season are remarkably close.
The hills, catching all the vapors, cause a cloudy atmosphere, which added to the depth of the valleys, & other circumstances connected with the formation of the land, prevent the Sun's rays from having much effect on the earth. The richness of the soil, the moisture & shelter of these valleys, nourish a most luxuriant vegetation; whereas the flat & desolate Falklands cannot boast one of these requisites for the production & subsistence of trees.
On my way up from St Martin's Cove we passed close under the cliff of Cape Horn, so near that we could describe the birds upon it, & the day was so fine that we enjoyed it extremely. Cape Horn is far from being

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that grand object described by Capt. Hall as a stupendous cloud; capped mass, but it is a very respectable cliff, quite fine enough to attract attention & even admiration, without working the beholder into a poetical fit. Its elevation is about 600 feet, I believe; a little grass grows towards the top, while a densely matted clothing of the deciduous -- leaved Fuegian Beeches, then of a brown colour, but green in summer, cover the slopes.
The hills of Fuegia are very fine, clad with snow & rearing their crested peaks, cones & broken rugged masses, "like giant's castles, hung mid--air" -- their bases always densely wooded & often sombre green from the abundance of the Evergreen Beech in all the sheltered sides.
I fear however that I am trespassing on your time by making this letter so long, I shall therefore break off, in the hope of soon being able to tell you, in words, what my poor talent of writing will not allow me otherwise to describe.
Again thanking you for your kind interest in me & for all the good wishes of your family, to whom you will offer my best regards, I am, dear Mrs. Booth, truly y[ou]rs
Jos. D. Hooker
To Mrs. Boott Gower St. London

ENDNOTES


1. This letter is a contemporary 19th century copy, not written in the hand of the original author Joseph Dalton Hooker, and not signed by him. The copy was probably made by Hooker's Mother or one of his sisters to be circulated amongst family and friends.
2. Mary Boott nee Hardcastle (1794/5--1850). Daughter of the botanist Lucy Hardcastle who may have been an illegitimate child of Erasmus Darwin. Married in 1820 to Francis Boott a practicing doctor and botanist who published a monograph on the genus Carex.
3. Dr Francis Boott (1792--1863). American doctor and botanist who lived in England from 1820. His botanical studies were confined to the Genus Carex. His monograph of 158 species of Carex was printed in Sir William Jackson Hooker's Flora Boreali-Americana. Fellow and sometime Treasurer and Secretary of the Linnean Society.
4. An annotation has been added at the bottom of page 2 with a cross indicating that it should be inserted a this point in the text. The annotation reads: "Mr Dunn, the owner of the Chinese Exhibition at Hyde park Corner." This explanatory note was probably added by whoever copied out the original letter.

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