wight's botanical letters. 159 



he formed the greater portion of that vast Herbarium with 

 which he shortly after proceeded to England, and which con- 

 stitute the principal materials from which the first volume of 

 of the Prodromus FIor,ie Indldc Orientalis Peninsula has been 

 compiled by Drs Wight and Arnott. 



The following letters, written since Dr Wight's return to 

 India, will prove, better than any language of ours can do, 

 with what zeal and perseverance he still follows up his Botani- 

 cal pursuits, and what ample pi'ovision he is making for the 

 forth-coming volume of the Prodromus, and for his other im- 

 portant publications ; and all this under many disadvantageous 

 circumstances, in the full exercise of his professional duties, 

 and frequently for a length of time confined to one small 

 spot, and that an unproductive one, or its immediate vici- 

 nity.* — Ed. 



Madras, A^fh September, 1834. 

 " Though I have now been a month in Madras, I have as 

 yet allow^ed only one occasion of writing to you to pass un- 

 heeded, and that because it occurred so soon after my arrival. 

 There is not at present any opportunity of despatching a 

 letter, but as I am on the point of leaving Madras on a long 

 march, and may not find it convenient to write again for 

 some time, I have thought it better to address to you a few 

 lines. This I now do under considerable disadvantages, from 

 having already put off too long, and having many things still 

 to attend to before starting; and the day of doing so is sadly 

 close at hand. I have as yet done little in the Botanical line, 

 indeed I may say nothing, except roughly arranging a con- 

 siderable collection of plants, brought me by my collectors, 



* Besides the two works noticed at p. 437 of the 2d volume of this Jour- 

 nal, Dr Wight has published several excellent botanical papers in the 

 Madras Journal of Literature and Science, and, in this country, in our 

 botanical Miscellany, Cofnpanion to the Botanical 3Iagazine, 1st vol. of 

 t^e Journal of Botany ; and, along with Dr Arnott, the Prodromus Fl. 

 ^en. Tnd, Or. vol. 1st, Contributions to the Botany of East India, and 

 Some memoirs in Jameson's EdinburgJi Philosophical Journal. 



