CHAPTEE XXVII 



THE JOURNEY TO PALESTINE AND THE WORK OF I860 



In the autumn of 1860, with Daniel Hanbury ^ for his travelling 

 companion, he spent a couple of months in the near East, 

 joining Captain Washington, Hydrographer of the Koyal Navy, 

 in a scientific visit to Syria and Palestine. One of his chief 

 objects was to ascend Mt. Lebanon and examine the decadent 

 condition of the famous Cedars. This led to his pubhcation, 

 two years later, of a paper discussing the whole genus, from 

 the cedars of Algeria, of Lebanon and Taurus, to the deodars 

 of India, a relationship which had long interested him {Nat 

 Hist Beview, 1862, pp. 11-18). A paper on ' Three Oaks of 

 Palestine ' also was read before the Linnean Society (Trans. 

 lAn. Soc, 1862, xxiii. 381-387). Another result of this journey 

 was the * masterly sketch ' of the botany of Syria and Palestine, 

 published in Smith's Bible Dictionary in 1863. 



He left Trieste on September 15 for Smyrna and Beyrout, 

 arriving on the 25th ; returning from Beyrout on November 5 

 and reaching Marseilles, by way of Malta, on the 14th. With 

 wars and rumours of wars on every side, the journey promised 

 to be more than a httle hazardous ; Italy was still engaged 

 in the struggle for hberation from Austria ; in Syria Moslem 

 and Christian were at daggers drawn ; the French as Protectors 



1 Daniel Hanbury (1825-75), F.R.S., was a partner in the firm of Allen 

 and Hanbury. His keen interest in botany and pharmacology laid the foun- 

 dation of a close friendship with Hooker. He was a member of the Pharma- 

 ceutical, Linnean, Chemical, Microscopical and Royal Societies. Apart from 

 science papers, his chief works were ' Inquiries relating to Pharmacology and 

 Economic Botany ' (in the Admiralty Manual of ^Scientific Inquiry) and 

 ' Pharmacographia,' 1874, written in conjunction with Prof. Fliickiger of 

 Strasburg. 



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