^iii . PREFACE 



occasion I visited the islands of Penang and Singapur, and some other places in the Straits of Malacca ; and after an 

 absence of five months I returned to Calcutta, having reaped a rich harvest of th*e productions of those countries. 



In 1825 I was deputed by the Government to inspect the timber forests of the western provinces of Hindustan, 

 when I had a favourable opportunity af examining and collecting the plants of the kingdom of Oi^e, the province of 

 Rohilcund, the valley of Deyra, Sec. 



My last journey was in 1826 and 1827, when I accompanied a mission from the Supreme Government of British 

 India to the Court of Ava. I ascended the Irawaddi as far as Ava, and visited the mountains in the neighbourhood 

 of that capital ; and proceeded afterwards to the lately acquired territories on the coasts of Martaban and 

 . Tenasserim. 



This short enumeration of my principal excursions will serve to point out the sources from which a great proportion 

 of my collections was derived. But besides these opportunities, of which I availed myself personally, I had all the 

 advantages belonging to the Institution over which I presided, and which for extent and importance I believe to be 

 unrivalled. These consisted in the cooperation of many distinguished individuals residing in different parts of India, 

 who were in the constant habit of transmitting every object of interest which the vegetable kingdom presented to their 

 notice. I discharge a most pleasing duty in recording here the names and services of the late Sir Stamford Raffles 

 and Mr. Jack, who contributed plants from Penang, Singapur, and Bencoolen ; of the Honourable E. Gardner, the 

 Resident, and the late Mr. Robert Stuart, Assistant Resident in Nipal ; of Sir Robert Colquhoun, Baronet, at 

 Kamaon ; of the Rev. Dr. Carey ; of Major-General Hardwicke ; of Mr. J. F. Royle, Superintendant of the Botanic 

 Garden at Saharunpur ; of Dr. Govan, Captains Webb and Gerard, and Mr. J. S. Gerard, from the mountains of 

 Western Hindustan and the Himalaya. Besides the riches which flowed in from these sources, I derived others from 

 the labours of a number of plant-collectors connected with the Garden, who were stationed in various parts of 

 India, such as SlUet, Nipal, Kamaon, Penang, Sec. It cannot excite surprise, therefore, that from these combined 

 advantages there should result ultimately an extensive collection of the plants of India. The number of indigenous 

 plants cultivated in the Garden was greatly increased in the course of a few years, and my herbarium ultimately 

 amounted to upwards of 8000 species, comprising a vast number of duplicates. Numerous selections from it 

 were successively transmitted to England, and deposited in the Museum of the East India Company, the Banksian 

 Herbarium, that of the late Sir J. E. Smith, of Mr. Lambert, and various others throughout Europe. Many of the 

 plants have been published in the works of Professors DeCandolle and Hooker, Dr. Greville, in the Botanical 

 Magazine and Register, Sec. ; as well as by myself in Roxburgh's Flora Indica, the Asiatic Researches, the Linnean 

 Transactions, and in the Tentamen Florse Napalensis lUustratee. 



In order to place before the reader the relative position of the places whence the plants were obtained, 

 especially with reference to those described in my present Work, a Map will form part of the concluding volume, 

 accompanied by such illustrations as may be necessary in a botanical point of view. 



My health on my return from the Burmese country had now become so impaired from repeated attacks of illness 

 that it was deemed indispensable I should visit Europe for my recovery ; and in 1828 permission was granted me 

 to leave for a time the duties of my situation, and to take my collections with me, in order that I might have the 

 honour of delivering them in person to the Court of Directors. That enlightened Body, with a munificence never ' 



