54 JAMES BACKHOUSE. 
was to Westbury, where they purposed remaining for the night. In ` 
the course of a short conversation, I mentioned who I was, and that I 
was in seareh of a spleudid liliaceous crimson flower, which had been 
described to me, and which I had not seen. Mr. Backhouse at once 
told me that it was the Blandfordia, and that he had found it abun- 
dantly on Rocky Cape, and also at Port Darcy. It at once led to a 
botanieal conversation, and from that period till the present a warm 
friendship has existed between us. The little knowledge I possess I 
may say I derived solely from Mr. Backhouse, whose assistance I can- 
not sufficiently acknowledge. He added largely to my collections, as 
my specimens to you show, and his knowledge of the botany of this 
region surpasses by far that of all others, except, perhaps, the great 
Brown, for whom I have a profound veneration. I sincerely hope that 
one who has done so much, and who may indeed receive the praise for 
the little I have done, will not long be left without having his name 
given to some genus in this land, and it ought to be a genus of no in- 
significant character, one of the princes of the forest, like 178 (if not a 
Fagus), or some of the coniferous trees I found on the western moun- 
tains. His botanical knowledge is, however, one of the least remark- 
able traits in his character. His general goodness and amiability will 
long endear him to every inhabitant of these colonies, connected as he 
was with everything good, devoting his time to the cause of Christianity 
and temperance. I can only as one say that many of his words have 
sunk deep in my heart, and that I shall always cherish his name with 
the fondest recollection.” 
The genus selected by Sir Wm. Hooker to bear Mr. Backhouse’s 
name was a fine Myrtaceous shrub, with curious conspicuous petal-like 
calyx-segments, gathered by himself in New South Wales, which is oc- 
casionally but not frequently grown in greenhouses. Professor Har- 
vey (who, at the time of his visit to the Cape Colony, filled the office of 
treasurer to the colony) desired to join in standing sponsor for the 
name, and Backhousia was duly characterized, and figured at tab. 4133 
of the * Botanical Magazine ; up to the present time, three species 
have been discovered. 
Mr. Backhouse returned to England in 1841, and his companion 
went back to Van Diemen’s Land, and settled there till his death. 
During the twenty-seven years that intervened between his return from 
the Cape and his death, a large proportion of his time was spent in 
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