xvi PREFACE. 



The result was a grant of £400 annually for three 

 years. 



Dr. T. Thomson joined me in Dorjiling in the end 

 of 1849, after the completion of his arduous journeys 

 in the North-West Himalaya and Tibet, and we spent 

 the year 1850 in travelling and collecting, returning 

 to England together in 1851. Having obtained permission 

 from the Indian Government to distribute his botanical 

 collections, which equal my own in extent and value, 

 we were advised by all our botanical friends to incorporate, 

 and thus to distribute them. The whole constitute an 

 Herbarium of from 6000 to 7000 species of Indian 

 plants, including an immense number of duplicates ; and 

 it is now in process of being arranged and named, by 

 Dr. Thomson and myself, preparatory to its distribution 

 amongst sixty of the principal public and private herbaria 

 in Europe, India, and the United States of America. 



For the information of future travellers, I may state 

 that the total expense of my Indian journey, including 

 outfit, three years and a half travelling, and the sending 

 of my collections to Calcutta, was under £2000 (of 

 which £1200 were defrayed by government), but would 

 have come to much more, had I not enjoyed the great 

 advantages I have detailed. This sum does not include 

 the purchase of books and instruments, with which 

 I supplied myself, and which cost about £200, nor 

 the freight of the collections to England, which was 

 paid by Government. Owing to the kind services of 

 Mr. J. C. Melvill, Secretary of the India House, many 



