54 



Mr. Afzelius to J. E. Smith. 



Dear Sir, Freetown, Sierra Leone, July 2, 1792. 



I am happy to acquaint you with our safe arrival 

 to this place the 6th of May last, and with our per- 

 fect state of health since that time, except that Bo- 

 rone has heen a little ill with a fever, from which 

 he is now entirely recovered. But I am sorry to 

 say that the inconveniences we here meet with, see- 

 ing the colony in confusion and divided into parties, 

 and not having a separate house or room where we 

 can dry our plants, preserve our things from the 

 inclemency of the rainy season, and write down 

 our observations, have hitherto prevented us from 

 collecting any plants. This is certainly a cruel si- 

 tuation, particularly when we are surrounded by so 

 many curious and unknown productions ; but we 

 must wait for a more prosperous time. Meanwhile 

 I am vexed that we cannot have the pleasure of 

 sending you, with the Sierra Leone packet, Captain 

 Phipps, who now returns to London, anything but 

 some bulbs and seeds, which I have only numbered; 

 and I beg you will keep these numbers till another 

 time, when I can be able to give them their proper 

 names. I leave it entirely to yourself to distribute 

 them as you please: I only wish that no description 

 or figure of them may be published before I can 

 come back myself. Amongst the bulbs are even 

 those of the beautiful Hmnanthus multiflnrus and 

 the charming Amaryllis ornata. Borone behaves 

 exceedingly well, and I am very happy to have got 



