joer INTRODUCTION. 
when Linneus and Jussieu were as ignorant as themselves, 
and would have continued so had they waited for intuitive 
knowledge. Sharp eyes and willing hands are the grand re- 
quisites for a botanical collector ; and if these be once set in 
motion, knowledge of affinities and structure will gradually 
follow as operations extend. Many of the most successful 
collectors of plants, by whose labours in all countries the 
science has been so extended and enriched, have been persons 
ignorant of, or but slightly acquainted with, Botany at the 
time of their mission. 
There is one simple way in which all such persons may ren- 
der important services, and by which they may gradually ac- 
quire the experience which they would fain possess at start- 
ing; namely, by collecting and drying specimens of the plants 
of their neighbourhood zndiseriminately, without favour or 
affection, from the tall forest tree to the moss or the lichen 
on its trunk. From such collections only, sent from all parts 
of the country to a common centre, can a Frora CAPENsIS, 
in any degree worthy of the subject, be prepared ; and should 
I be favoured with such, and with the confidence of the col- 
lectors, it will give me very great pleasure to promote their 
views in this way, by undertaking the preparation, to the best 
of my ability, of a Flora of South Africa. Confined as my 
residence necessarily is to the neighbourhood of Cape Town, 
¥ must trust to such help as I may thus receive for all plants 
found beyond the narrow limits of the Cape District; and it 
therefore depends very much on persons attached to Botany 
and seattered over the country, whether I shall ever be able 
to undertake a Flora at all. I stand before them as a Can- 
didate. 
W. H: Harvey. 
Care Town, July 1, 1838. 
