4 ^ PRCFACa. 



have been on'y to ilie Cape. His declining state of lif a'tli liow- 

 ever, iuduced l.im to proceed as far as St. Helena. Dining his stay 

 in that island, he, ever attentive to tlie interests of science, improv- 

 ed the opportunity by describing most of the plants he found grow- 

 in>4 there. After his arrival in England, wliilher he was at length 



obliged lo proceed, he enteilanieJ.consideiable hopes of being able 

 to put tills work to, the press ; and once wrote to tl)e Editor, that in 

 preparing it for this purpose lie hoped to procure the assistance of 

 one of the tirst botanists of the- present day, Mr. Hubert Brown. 

 Death however soon prevented his accomplishing this object which 

 be had so much at heart. 



The Editor had been permitted by Dr. Roxburgh to take a copy 

 of the manuscript after it had received the latest aherations and addi- 

 tions which he made to it while he remained in India, the last part 

 of it being returned to him after he had gone on board the ship with 

 "the view of leaving the cuuntiy. On his ariival at Ceylon he met 

 ■with aiuldpscribri! a few pUint«t there ; coj)ies of w!'Jo]i descriptions, 

 he kindly sent thence to the Editor at Seiampore. 



After waiting more than a year after the news of Dr. Roxburgh's 

 death had reaLJu d India, the Editor, being unable to learn that any 

 one tlioirght of publishaig this woik, vvliich his deceased friend felt 

 so anxious to put td press in an unmutilated state, before tlie labors 

 of others should render it useless and obsolete, he formed the reso- 

 lution of taking the risk of the publication on himself; and having 

 secured the co-oj)eration of his various friends in India, -he inimedi- 

 lite'y put it to press. 



The principal motives which urged him to this step, were these. 

 He in the first instance wished to secure to an old and highly valu- 

 ed Friend the well-earned reward of upwards of thirty years' labor, 

 in the descrip,lion of more than Two Thousand Plants, natives of Eas- 

 tern Asia 5 a work in N\hich none had autici;ialed him to au ecjual ex- 



