PLANT COLLECTORS, ETC. 115 



were introduced into the plantation ; and he even tried 

 to produce silk, and to manufacture sugar. He soon 

 became remarkable for the devotion which he put into 

 his endeavours to improve the natural resources of the 

 country. Years afterward, we find him in charge of the 

 Botanic Garden at Calcutta, in succession to Colonel 

 Kyd. After a noble record of more than thirty years' 

 work in India he came home to England, and took high 

 rank with the veteran Botanists of the day. A fitting 

 monument to Roxburgh exists in his Flora Indica, 

 published after his death. While in India, that part of 

 his drawings, etc., which had survived the storms and 

 risks of transportation were collected by Sir Joseph 

 Banks, and published by the East India Company. 1 



Dr. Roxburgh first appears as a correspondent of 

 Sir Joseph in a letter dated March 8, 1779, when he 

 acknowledges a communication from him, and expresses 

 his surprise and delight at being found out : " About a 

 month ago I was honoured with your very agreeable 

 letter of March 25, 1778. Till then I did not flatter 

 myself that any collection of seeds or specimens of plants 

 I could make would be half so acceptable as you say, or 

 I would not have waited for your orders ; for I wish to 

 send such things to every person that will pay proper 

 attention to them, and not let them be lost." Then he 

 plunges into Botany ; and finishes with a reference to 

 Dr. Konig, who " is now on a voyage to the Islands in the 

 Straits of Malacca, and Siam. I hope to have my garden 

 greatly enriched by the labours of this voyage. He is 

 the most indefatigable man I ever saw. Many a day 

 we have spent together in the woods on this coast." 

 Roxburgh met Dr. Konig again at Tranquebar in 1782, 

 after his Siamese excursion, and henceforth much of their 

 botanical work was done in company. A hearty friend- 



1 Plants of the Coast of Coromandel (3 vols., folio), with preface and 

 notice of Roxburgh, by Dr. Patrick Russell. 



