116 BOTANY OF INDIA. 



undertake the cultivation of it." "We here close our sketch 

 of the zoology of India. 



" These are thy glorious works, Parent of good ! 

 Almighty ! thine this universal frame, 

 Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then! 

 Unspeakable ; v.ho sit'st above these heavens ! 

 To us invisible, or ihmly seen 

 In these thy lower works ; yet these declare 

 Thy goodness beyond thought, and pov;er divine !" 



BOTANY. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Progress of Indian Botany — General Description of the 

 Vegetation, 



Climate— Investigators of Indian Botany— Foundation of the Calcutta 

 Botanic Garden— Liberality of the East India Company— Dr. Wal- 

 lich's Exertions- His Return to Europe with large Collections- 

 Generous Conduct of the Court of Directors— Some Results of Dr. 

 Walhch's Disoovenes— Private Exertions of Dr. Wight— Extent of 

 the Indian Flora— General Features of Indian Vegetation on the 

 Plains and on the Mountains. 



Our knowledge of Indian vegetation, although extend- 

 ing itself with a rapidity almost unexampled in the botani- 

 cal history of any country, is yet extremely limited. Nor 

 can this be a matter for surprise when we call to mind the 

 prodigious extent of our Asiatic possessions, reaching as 

 they do from within six degrees of the equinoctial line to 

 Ihe'thirty-fifth degree of northern latitude, with a range of 

 temperature from that of the torrid zone to regions of per- 

 petual snow. While, therefore, it is quite impossible, from 

 deficiency of materials, to give any thing like a complete 

 view of the Indian flora, whether we look to sj^stematic 

 details or the geographical distribution of its species, there 

 is much interesting information concerning the useful, sin- 



