268 THE LIFE OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 



" No. 5. A set of lacquered and inlaid dishes or 



waiters. 

 " No. 6. Four red boxes, varnished and carved in a 



rare and curious manner. 



" No. 7. A peculiarly curious and ancient dwarf Tree. 

 "No. 8. Eight pots of the finest moutans." 1 



After seven years' work at Canton, interrupted by a 

 botanic trip to Luzon and the neighbourhood, Kerr was 

 recommended by Banks to the Governor of Ceylon, who 

 wanted to find a competent superintendent to the new 

 Botanic Garden there. Kerr set it on foot, and was 

 making a flourishing affair of it, when he was seized with 

 some illness incidental to the climate, and died in 1814, 

 only two years after his arrival. Alexander Moon 

 succeeded him, arriving out in 1817. The site of the 

 garden was removed to a more suitable spot, and continues 

 to improve. Favourable reports of the Peradeniya garden 

 are still received periodically in London. 



This mission of Mr. Kerr to Canton is the more in- 

 teresting because of Banks's association with others 

 concerned in the Canton factory. Sir George Thomas 

 Staunton, son of the famous ambassador to China, in 

 company with Lord Macartney, was in the beginning of a 

 life of splendid usefulness ; at present supercargo at the 

 factory. Between Banks and Lance and Staunton 

 there appears to have been a common regard. Staunton 

 was one of the new generation upon whom the mantle of 

 Banks's fellows was to fall. To such persons Sir Joseph 

 held out his hand of encouragement without reserve 

 and without parade. He lived to see Staunton risen to 

 high distinction as a diplomatist and a linguist, and the 

 first authority on China and the Chinese. 



Sir George was asked to concern himself with the welfare 



1 i.e. the tree-paeony. In his covering letter, Kerr says the Chinese 

 gentleman had known the dwarf tree for thirty years, and it was 

 supposed to be at least one hundred years old. 



