SIR HANS SLOANE 47 



In 1684 he returned to London, sent an 

 account of his travels to Boyle, a collection 

 of rare plants to Ray, and went off to see what 

 had happened to the cedars in the Phasic 

 Garden. 



The next year the Royal Society elected him 

 a Fellow, and in 1687 the Royal College of 

 Physicians did him the same honour. 



He was then asked to accompany the Duke of 

 Albemarle, who had been made Governor of 

 Jamaica. The journey took more than three 

 months ; but to anyone who cared for the ever- 

 changing face of sky and sea, the smokeless air, 

 the strange birds and fishes, a voyage in a great 

 sailing ship must have had a charm, of which 

 modern travellers in a great steamship know 

 nothing. 



The Duke of Albemarle fell ill and died ; 

 and after fifteen months in Jamaica, Sloane 

 accompanied the widowed Duchess to England. 

 It must have been a depressing time. Happily 

 for Sloane he was a naturalist ; and naturalists 

 are not dull in such a country. Sloane collected 

 plants, of which he brought back 800 specimens, 

 and made notes for his future voluminous 

 history of the island, its flora and fauna. 



Some of the living fauna did not survive the 

 voyage. An iguana jumped overboard. A 

 crocodile found its way into a tub of salt water 

 and died. A yellow snake, seven feet long, 

 escaped, lived on the roof of the deckhouse, 

 and fed on the ship's rats ; until some pas- 

 sengers who were not naturalists " footmen 

 and other domestics of her Grace, being afraid 

 to lie down in such company, shot my snake 



