CH. VI. GEAVE DELIBEEATIONS. 139 



one man should be crazy enough to make a long journey 

 for such a purpose might have been thought within the 

 range of possibility ; but to suppose that three should all 

 at once be smitten with the same form of insanity was 

 plainly too ridiculous. To endeavour to explain that 

 Hooker, as Director of a great national establishment such 

 as Kew Gardens, should be anxious to enrich it by the 

 introduction of new, rare, or useful plants, was not likely 

 to be more successful. The existence of any public insti- 

 tution having a claim to attention apart from the per- 

 sonal will or caprice of the sovereign could not be made 

 intelligible to the native mind. It was clear that if we 

 did not present ourselves as persons in some way carrying 

 out the direct orders of the Queen of England, we should 

 have no claim to respect, and should be regarded as 

 adventurers prompted by some motive we did not care to 

 avow. 



Of course, we felt a natural reluctance to use the 

 Queen's name in an unauthorised way ; but, without 

 entering into subtle discussion as to the extent to which 

 the acts of ministers are to be regarded as those of the 

 sovereign, the fact that the Foreign Secretary had, through 

 the Queen's representative, applied for the Sultan's per- 

 mission for Hooker's journey, undoubtedly justified him 

 in assuming a position different from that of an ordi- 

 nary traveller. It is true that the knowledge and personal 

 interest which Her Majesty has always shown in matters 

 relating to Art have never been publicly displayed in 

 reference to natural history; but it would certainly not be 

 straining the truth to let it be understood that such a 

 unique institution as the Eoyal Gardens at Kew is regarded 

 by her with sympathy and favour. The most natural way 

 of conveying this to the Moorish mind seemed to be to 

 say that the Sultana of England had great gardens, in 

 which were plants from all the countries in the world, 

 excepting the Great Atlas, and that she had sent Hooker 

 and his assistants to collect and send home whatever 



