FRANCIS HAMILTON (ONCE BUCHANAN). xiii 
The chief object of this enquiry was to be the agriculture of the country, includ- 
ing a report on all esculent vegetables; cattle; farms. Next, the natural resources 
of the country, such as cotton, pepper, sandalwood, cardamoms were to be investigated; 
as were mines, quarries, minerals, and mineral springs; also manufactures and manufac- 
turers. An account was to be drawn up of the climate and seasons and, as far as 
possible, of the forests; finally, he was to report on the condition and character of the 
people. His instructions included an order to transmit seeds and living plants to the 
Botanic Garden at Calcutta, with observations as to their nature and their culture. 
Soon after receiving these comprehensive instructions Buchanan sailed for Madras, 
leaving that place on 23rd April 1800 to carry them out. He travelled through Arcot, 
Mysore, Coimbatore, then crossed the Anamalai Hills to Malabar, and returned to 
Madras on the completion of his survey on 6th July 1801. His itinerary is given in 
his published journal, so that little additional information is to be obtained from the letters 
addressed to Roxburgh’ during the journey. The following, however, dated Seringapatam, 
20th May 1800, from the glimpse it affords us of Colonel Wellesley, who was in 
time to become Duke of Wellington, is sufficiently interesting for reproduction on that 
ground alone:— 
"T expected to have been able on my journey to this place to have procured many seeds to have 
sent you, but hitherto it has not been a favourable season, and I have got absolutely nothing. 
Almost every plant that I have got has been already described by you,? and of the few that appear 
to benew I have not been able to get the seeds, The whole country above the ghauts through 
which I have passed is very naked, and at this season is entirely burnt up for want of water. Besides, 
I had no authority to call upon any of the natives for information and assistance and, without that, 
it is impossible to procure the most trifling thing. I arrived here on the night of the 17th and have 
been very well received by Colonel Close, who seems disposed to give me every assistance, and has 
procured me an interview with Purneah the Rajah’s Dewan, Не is very profuse in his promises but, 
from the little I can вее, I imagine that privately he will throw every delay in my way that he can. 
I live with Colonel Close in the Lal Baug, one of the late Sultan's garden houses. The garden 
is laid out in the French taste, but suffered much from Lord Cornwallis’s army and has been much 
neglected ever since, for our army made it an hospital and, many Christians having been buried in the 
grounds, gave Тіррсо а disgust to them, The soil is very good and admirably well watered by canals 
from the river. For my own part I think it a much preferable place to Bangalore for a botanica 
establishment, but I find Dr, Heyne is of a contrary opinion, The European vegetables thrive at all 
seasons of the year, Coffee and mulberry trees thrive much better than апу I have seen in Bengal. 
One great advantage of this place is its vicinity to the Coorg Mountains and Western Ghauts where 
I am told there is a wonderful variety in the vegetable productions. Besides, its being the seat of 
Government, useful things that may be introduced will be much more likely to spread than if they 
are cultivated at a remote place such as Bangalore. : 
T shall probably remain here for some time and then proceed through the eastern parts of the U 
Rajah's dominions to Coimbatore. I must leave the north-western parts, the most favourable for 
botanical pursuits, till the last, as at present they are in very unsettled state. Colonel Wellesley 
marched to-day with the 73rd Regiment to join a considerable force that is going to make a settlement. 
1 There are again 19 letters in this series :--Seringapatam, 20th Мау 1800; Sera, Ist August 1800; Seringa- 
patam, 4th September 1800; l'olinura, 16th November 1806; Palighautchery, 2nd December 1800; Paryanuri, 6th 
December 1800; a lotter without place or date, replying to one from Roxburgh dated 26th September 1800, but by 
its context intermediate between the last and the next; Calicut, 27th December 1800; Tellicherry, 9th January 1801 ; 
Buntwal, 81st January 1801; Coondapoor, 14th February 1801; Nugger, 24th March and 27th March 1801; 
Chitteldroog, 15th April and 16th April 1801; Seringapatam, 30th May and ist June 1801; Madras, 7th July 
£801. i 
2 This statement is а further indication that Buchanan possessed a manuscript copy of Roxburgh's Flora Indica. 
