V T 



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* "1 



I 



EARLY CAPE BOTANISTS AND COLLECTORS, 



43 



Some doubt has been expressed as to the authorship of the drawings, based 

 on u reference to them by John Bellenden Ker in an unsigned article in the 

 ' Journal of (Science and the Arts/ iv, 199 (1818)^. This has already been 

 printed and commented upon in one of the papers already named (Journ. Bot. 

 1884, 144), but the passage^ so far us it relates to the question of their 

 authorship, may be reprinted liere : — 



^' Mr. Francis Masson , . - unexpectedly met "vvithj among the Dutch soldiers 

 who then guarded that colony, an artist of great skill as a designer of the 

 objects of natural history [see p. 49], Availing himself of the circum- 

 stance, he formed a considerable portfolio of coloured drawings of the samples 

 of the more curious objects of liis pursuit. . . . They have since been added 

 by Sir Joseph Banks " to liis collections. 



AVliether all the drawings were the work of Masson may possibly be open 

 to doubt: most of them certainly were ; some were taken from plants grown 

 bv him and his name is attached to them in his own hand, and there is 

 nothing in their style to differentiate these from the rest. 



The three-quarter length portrait here I'eproduced (PL 4) is no doubt 

 that which w^as at one time in the possession of James Lee : it was bought 

 from a general dealer at Hounslow in 1884 by Mr, Carruthers and was by 

 him presented to the Linnean Society. Masson is shown with a background 

 of cliff : on the left is a view of Table Bay viewed from the north : 

 Devil's Peak, Table Mountain, and Signal Hill are readily distinguishable; 

 the artist is unknown. 



.» 



A contemporar}^ and sometimes a fellow-collector with Masson was Carl 

 Peek Thunbekg (1743-1828) who, on account of his botanical knowledge 

 and published works as well as for his collections, may be regarded as the 

 most important figure in early Cape botany. A considerable number of his 

 plants are in the Banksian Herbarium, which Thunbcrg visited in 1778, 



arriving in London on Dec. 14 of that year. The account of his visit 

 seems w^orth transcribino- : — 



'^ Mr. Dryander, my friend and quondam fellow-student, had very kindly 

 taken upon himself the charge of providing lodgings for me; my first care 

 therefore was to wait upon (his gentleman at the liousc of Sir Joseph Banks, 

 agreeably to the address he had given me. As soon as I had sent in my 

 name, I was received in the most polite maiiner by Di\ Solander, who did me 

 the honour to introduce and present me immediately to Sir Joseph Banks, in 

 his Cabinet of Natural History. 



u T 



This Gentleman was not only pleased to receive me with the greatest 

 kindness in the present instance, but continued, during the whole time of 



* Tins paper and the preceding one seem to liave been overlooked by Mr. Bolus when 

 compiling the bibliography prefixed to his '^ Orchids of the Cape Peninsula" which formed 

 the first part of vol, v. of the 'Transactions of the South African Philoaophical Society' 

 (1888). 



