172 wight's botanical letteiis. 



can easily suppose that they have their hands full of business 

 now, making ready for their Assam trip : I heartily wish 

 them success, and feel very well contented to remain where I 

 am, as I expect to have opportunities in the course of the 

 next three or four months to examine with some care the 

 Courtallum mountains, where I shall doubtless discover many 

 fine things. 



I have got a noble supply of Flolboellia ornithocephala 

 Hook., not from the mountains, but from the sea coast near 

 Tuticoreen, so that those I formerly procured must have 

 been collected near Cape Coniorin : perhaps the sea-coast, 

 Tinnevelly district, is the proper habitat. From an island off 

 that coast I have obtained a fine new Cassia which is to have 

 the honour of bearing your name. My Tuticoreen collec- 

 tion was most interesting though not large, supplying me with 

 many very nice plants, some new, some old, but rare, of 

 which I had only bad specimens, and some described in the 

 Prodromus, but of which we had not specimens in our herbaria. 

 Among the rest was Hibiscus sidoides, (which I have already 

 said is a 3Ielhamia) a fine Ruppia and a Salsola (true) with 

 the winged fruit, a form which I had not before seen in this 

 country. I have sent the collector back for more, and to try 

 his luck again in the way of new things. My other two collec- 

 tors are on the Malabar coast, from which they must return 

 quickly, now that the west coast monsoon has begun. I ex- 

 pect some good plants from them as well as from the coast 

 trip I am fortunate in having enjoyed, and in continu- 

 ing to enjoy good health, without which I could make no 

 progress in Botany; but, notwithstanding, I get on very 

 slowly in every thing but collecting, being subject to pains 

 in my legs and ankles when I stand much, which is necessary 

 in the business of arranging and handling the large parcels 

 I have to deal with. 



Palamcottah, 30fA September, 1835. 

 Your letter of the 1 7th April, reached me some time in Au- 

 gust, when at Courtallum, and I almost wonder how it is that it 

 has remained so lonaf unanswered : no time has however been 



