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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 



