HISTORY OF THE INVESTIGATION OF THE FLORA OF SURINAM 



5 



was already inhabited by 71 Europeans in 1855. After having made another 

 voyage to Holland in i860, Kappler in 1 861 is a member of the Dutch- 

 French expedition for the determination of the frontiers. On this occasion 

 he travels on the Lawa and the Litanie and mounts the Knopaiamoi (the 

 Piton Vidal) which was not reached again until 4o years afterwards by the 

 Dutch Gonini-expedition. On this expedition a small collection was made. 



After that time he seems to have stopped collecting Kappler made still 

 two voyages to Europe; in 1867 in order to obtain freedom from taxation 

 for his goods and in 1875 on account of illness of his wife This latter 

 couldnot stand life in the colony and so in 1879 Kappler sold Albina to the 

 government and left for Europe for good. He went to Stuttgart where he 

 remained till his death. 



Besides the two works already mentioned he still wrote a book: Suri- 

 nam, sein Land, seine Natur, Bevolkerung, seine Kulturverhaltnisse mit Be- 

 zug auf Kolonisation von A. Kappler. Stuttgart 18S7 and various articles on 

 the fauna and flora of the colony in: "das Ausland" of 1885. 



Also other collections have been made in Surinam ; one of the most 

 important by H. C. Focke who was born in Surinam in 1802, studied law 

 at Utrecht and after taking his degree established himself again at Para- 

 maribo as an official in the court of justice. As early as 1835 Focke sent plants 

 to Miquel who was then botanist at the clinical school at Rotterdam. Focke 

 went on collecting till 1850 From 1854 to 1856 he was one of the editors 

 of the periodical West-Indie, of which no volumes appeared after his death 

 and in which he published numerous botanical and ethnographical articles. 



As a botanist Focke made himself known by papers on Surinamian orchids 

 in the Botanische Zeitung of 1 85 3 and in the Tijdschrift voor de Wis- en 

 Natuurkundige Wetenschappen of 1849 and 1851. His dictionary of negro- 

 English received less favourable criticism and was already in the following 

 year superseded by the Deutsch-Negerenglisches WiJrterbuch of WuUschlagel, 

 the well-known collector in the Antilles and in Surinam. 



It is certainly remarkable that Kappler in his autobiography does not 

 mention Focke at all, since both collected near Paramaribo at the same time. 

 Probably the ex-quartermaster of the colonial army was not respectable 

 enough for the gentlemen of the court of justice to associate with. Kappler 

 complains repeatedly that during his stay at Paramaribo he had so little 

 intercourse with the other inhabitants of the town. 



Another botanist whom Focke must certainly have met, is F. L. Split- 

 gerber, born in 1801 at Amsterdam, where he received his education till 

 his fifteenth year, after which he lived at Lausanne for four years. Split- 

 gerber was a highly educated man who spoke several languages fluently 

 and devoted himself particularly to painting. His large fortune enabled him 

 to travel in Europe ; he visited Italy, Sicily and England. 



Not until his residence at Hillegom in Holland he seems to have devoted 

 himself more particularly to botany. From that period dates his list of plants 



