re CUM CRM 
Company's Service, and paid me such 
compliments as modesty forbids me to re- 
peat." 
pon this substantial proof of young 
Jack's abilities, his excellent friends, Sir 
Vicary and Lady Gibbs lent all their influ- 
ence to obtain an immediate appointment 
in the Bengal Establishment, and succeed- 
ed in procuring for him the first of the 
season: but he could not be persuaded to 
quit his native land without seeing again 
his parents, brothers, and sisters, to all of 
whom he was most fondly attached. He 
accordingly (with the consent of his friends) 
embarked for the North, and spent eight 
months at home, endeared to his family by 
every tie that amiability, added to affection 
and the claims of nature, can twine around 
the heart. 
In the next winter he returned to Lon- 
don, and attended another course of lec- 
tures, at the conclusion of which his friends, 
by exerting double interest in his favour, 
succeeded in procuring for him an appoint- 
ment similar to that of the former year. 
He embarked accordingly for India, on 
board the Company’s Ship “ Baring,” o 
his birth-day, 29th January, 1813, ee 
eighteen years. 
f Mr. Jack's future active, but brief 
career, his correspondence and pub - 
. Works form the only memoranda. 
Papers, the result and record of much re- 
search, both in Natural History and in 
Oriental Literature and Civil History, 
were lost by the burning of the Ship Fame, 
ın which his friend Sir Stamford Raffles 
and family had embarked for Europe. Sir 
rd Raffles, anxious to do justice to 
. the memory of Mr. Jack, had determined 
; » publish a short memoir, drawn only from 
own acquaintance with the character 
id and talents of his lamented friend, whom 
: he had the best means of knowing, as they 
had lived together for four years on the 
on pea and confidential terms : but 
design was defeated by the sudden 
and premature close of Sir Stamford's own 
,in July, 1826." 
The following extracts from letters which 
M. Jack wrote to his family.in Scotland, 
MEMOIR OF THE LATE MR. WILLIAM JACK. 
125 
after sailing for Bengal, will give some idea 
of his attachment to Natural History, and 
to Botany in particular, as well as of his 
ardent thirst after knowledge. 
Feb. 28th, 1813. ** This morning early 
we were off Funchal, the principal town of 
Madeira, and in the forenoon a boat came 
alongside, in which most of the passengers 
and myself went on shore. After strolling 
about the station, I quitted my companions 
and followed the course of a stream up the 
country, where, though pleased at seeing 
numbers of new plants, I was more grati- 
fied by observing many of those of our 
native country, as the Broom, Galium 
montanum, &c. Lupines were growing as 
a weed, and great quantities of Bamboos 
fringed the sides of the stream with several 
species of Palm, which I have seen culti- 
vated in hot-houses in England, and a sin- 
gular plant, sometimes grown in pots, with 
broad thick fleshy leaves that spring out of 
one another in succession, so that there is 
no stalk; this last was plentiful upon the 
rocks. The island is very rough and un- 
even, but the soil, where there is any, is a 
fine loam. Grapes were not in season, but 
I saw their stalks every where, trained to a 
kind of espalier, made of poles, and crossed 
at top with bamboos. The vineyards oc- 
cupied every ledge of the rocks where 
there was any earth for them, rising, ter- 
race above terrace, to the top of the hill. 
of Scotch Fir, but whether native or intro- 
duced, I am not aware." 
Symon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, May 
3rd, 1813. “ Yesterday morning we came 
to anchor in Symon's Bay. The prospect 
around is exceedingly bleak, bare, and 
rocky; hills rising above hills from the 
water's edge, whose sides present nothing 
to the eye but stones and brown heather, 
while in other parts, wastes of white sand, 
still more barren, facile the sight. Sy- 
mon’s Town consists of a few white houses, 
built along the shore, at the foot of a steep 
hill, The ground around it scarcely pre- — 
sents any appearance of cultivation, except — 
