93 
the Valley of Deyra, &c. His last important excursion was 
to Ava, whither he accompanied the mission sent by the Hon. 
the East India Company, immediately after the reduction of 
the Birman Empire, by the valour of British troops. Here 
was an entirely new field laid open to the view of our en- 
lightened and experienced Botanist; and when the collec- 
tions of this vast and fertile country were united to those 
already deposited in Calcutta, the mass was estimated to 
include from eight to nine thousand species. Of the difficulty 
of preserving dried plants in an Indian country, few can 
possibly form an idea, except by actual experience. In ad- 
dition to the coleopterous insects, which in all climates com- 
mit most provoking ravages on these vegetable mummies, 
the ants are ready in the tropics to devour both the 
specimens and the paper in which they are preserved. To 
secure them from these attacks, the only remedy is to 
have the cabinets insulated, by setting the feet of them in 
troughs of water. But so rapid is evaporation under an 
Indian sun, that it was the entire office of an Hindoo, after 
entering the museum and performing his salaam to Dr. 
Wallich in a morning, to go the round of the room, and 
replenish these troughs with water as fast as it evaporated, - 
until the cool shadows of evening came on, and relieved him 
from his tedious and monotonous task. 
With this vast Herbarium, with many seeds and chests of 
living plants, but with a constitution greatly enfeebled by a 
residence of twenty years, and incessant mental and bodily 
fatigue in fulfilling the duties of his important office, Dr. 
Wallich arrived in England in the autumn of 1828. Here 
he expressed the generous wish that all the civilized world 
should benefit as much as possible by his exertions, and that 
the duplicate specimens,which were exceedingly numerous, 
should be divided amongst the principal Botanists, who are 
also invited to take a share in the publication of those genera 
or families, with which they are most conversant. The large 
apartments of a house in Frith-Street scarcely sufficed for 
the reception of the collections, which, however, began 
rapidly to be reduced, as the distribution, which was made in 
