250 EXPEDITION UP THE KWORA. 



Mr. Hanbury know that there are among them some Scitamineous spe- 

 cimens for him, but that we have found, what I always suspected, that 

 Dr. Daniel's localities did not afford us the plants he attributed to 

 them. I will send you from Fernando Po a detailed list of the speci- 

 mens, and I hope also to send then about five hundred more dried 

 Sierra Leone plants. 



If we have any spare time at Fernando Po, you may depend upon it, 

 it will not be wasted. 



W. Balfour Baikie. 



The third Letter, also from Dr. Baikie, is dated 



Fernando Po, May 30, 1857. 



Having a little more time than I had when I wrote so hurriedly to 

 you about, three weeks ago, I shall give you a little more in detail an 

 account of our botanical proceedings. I enclose, with this, lists of the 

 fruits in the cask, and of the plants in the Wardian case, with their 

 localities. The dried plants sent are all labelled, and the Orchids in 

 the small cask are also marked. I think the number of Orchids is 

 greater than what you would expect, but they seem very abundant 

 about Sierra Leone. I think some of the fruits in the cask will also 

 be new to your collection. I am very much pleased with Mr. Barter, 

 who works very hard, is very enthusiastic, and gets on well. After 

 leaving Sierra Leone the weather did not permit of our landing along 

 the coast, though I should have much liked to have botanized for a few 

 hours at Cape Coast Castle. Since our arrival here we have examined 

 the neighbourhood of Clarence, and made one or two excursions to- 

 wards the base of the mountain, but the season is very unfavourable, 

 as heavy rains are of daily occurrence, and the deep clayey soil of the 

 island, becoming soaked with the wet, renders progression almost im- 

 possible, and most laborious, especially along the miserable footpaths 

 of the island, barely wide enough for a single person. As we shall be 

 here for eight or ten days yet, I shall not send anything by this mail, 

 but shall leave it for the next, when I shall forward all I have got. 

 We have a number of Sierra Leone plants, about five hundred species, 

 with duplicates of almost all, and I expect that many of our Fernandian 

 plants will be dry enough for the voyage home ; the rest must be taken 

 up the Niger for the present. We shall also have some curious fruits, 

 which will be sent home moist, and a few seeds and dry fruits. Yes- 

 terday I got an intelligent black man as a guide, who took my two 



