3o6 SIR JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER 



travellers. In 1849 he returned to Darjeeling, and busied 

 himself with arranging his vast collections. Here he was joined 

 by an old fellow-student of Glasgow, Dr Thomas Thomson, son 

 of the professor of that name. The two friends spent the year 

 1850 in the botanical investigation of Eastern Bengal, Chitta- 

 gong, Silhet, and the Khasia hills. In 185 1 they returned 

 together to England. 



The botanical results of these Indian journeys were immense, 

 and they provided the material for much of Hooker's later 

 scientific v/riting. Nearly 7000 species of Indian plants were 

 collected by these two Glasgow graduates. But Hooker was 

 not a mere specialist. His Journals are full of other observa- 

 tions, ethnographical, ornithological, and entomological. His 

 topographical results especially were of the highest importance. 

 They formed the basis of a map published by the Indian Topo- 

 graphical Survey. By the aid of it the operations of various 

 campaigns and political missions have since been carried to 

 a successful issue. If he were not known as a Botanist, he would 

 still have his assured place as a Geographer. 



After his return from India, nine years ensued of quiet work 

 at home. But in i860 Hooker took part in a scientific visit to 

 Syria and Palestine, ascending Mount Lebanon, where he 

 specially paid attention to the decadent condition of the Cedars, 

 his observations leading later to a general discussion of the 

 genus. Again a period of ten years intervened, his next 

 objective being Morocco. In 1871, with Mr Ball and Mr Maw, 

 he penetrated the Atlas Range, never before examined bo- 

 tanically. His last great journey was in 1877, when he was 

 sixty years of age. With his old friend, Prof Asa Gray of 

 Harvard, he visited Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, the Rocky 

 Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and California. Prof Coulter of 

 Chicago, who was one of the party in the Rockies, has told me 

 how difficult it was to round up the two elderly enthusiasts to 

 camp at night. 



This is an extraordinary record of travel, especially so when 

 we remember that all the journeys were fitted into the intervals 

 of an otherwise busy life of scientific work and administration. 

 At one time or another he had touched upon every great 



