348 THE EETUKN FEOM INDIA 



was granted for three years. Thus a great part of his labour 

 was unremunerative. Nearly ten years later, however, he 

 was agreeably surprised by a grant of £500 from the Admiralty 

 in recognition of his ' zeal, perseverance, and scientific ability 

 in his botanical services ' ; quite a new feature in his relations 

 with My Lords Commissioners. His account of this appears 

 in a letter to Huxley (1860), who responds : ' The Admiralty 

 affair pleases me very much. It is only right and just, but still 

 I think you may well be gratified. Justice does not always 

 come in so pleasant a form.' 



To T. H. Huxley 



Dear H. — My vanity will not stand the holding this 

 back from you. I must confess to being amazingly tickled 

 after twenty-two years' service of sorts, at receiving a hand- 

 some and spontaneous expression of unqualified approbation 

 from my Lords of the Foul Anchor. I had made the applica- 

 tion in due form for the small arrears (of three years' pay) 

 that was due (for nine years' work) ; and just by way of 

 not throwing a chance away, in spite of my wife's laughs, 

 I sent a crackling cartridge of foolscap with a statement 

 of the length and breadth of my works and pay. I said 

 nothing of quahty, the Navy being the only service in which 

 I never saw a fellow do good by praising himself. I made 

 no grievance. I used no influence of any kind or sort or 

 description, nor did my Father. Washington ^ immediately 

 took the matter up and sent me a dozen queries from my 

 Lords ; I answered all categorically, some three months 

 ago — and lo the result ! 



His second great task was to work out his Indian collections. 

 They had been made for Kew under the auspices of the Woods 

 and Forests Department, which governed Kew, and unless 

 worked out, arranged, and housed, were, Hke his Zoological 

 collections on the Erehus, just so much labour thrown away. 

 To this end he desired apphcation to be made to the Depart- 



1 John Washington (1800-63), Rear-Admiral, entered the navy in 1812 and 

 travelled much between 1822 and 1853 : Secretary of the Royal Geographical 

 Society 1836-41. He was engaged on the East Coast Survey 1841-7, and 

 became F.E-.S. 1845, Assistant Hydrographer and Hydrographer 1855-62. 

 He was Hooker's companion on his Syrian exploration. 



