I853-] NEW ZEALAND FLORA. 40I 



so punished. But I must confess that perhaps nearly the 

 same thing would have happened to me on any scheme of 

 work. 



I am heartily glad to hear your Journal * is so much ad- 

 vanced ; how magnificently it seems to be illustrated ! An 

 " Oriental Naturalist" with lots of imagination and not too 

 much regard to facts, is just the man to discuss species ! I 

 think your title of ' A Journal of a Naturalist in the East ' 

 very good ; but whether " in the Himalaya " would not be 

 better, I have doubted, for the East sounds rather vague. . . . 



C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. 



[I853-] 



My dear Hooker, — I have no remarks at all worth 

 sending you, nor, indeed, was it likely that I should, con- 

 sidering how perfect and elaborated an essay it is.f As far 

 as my judgment goes, it is the most important discussion 

 on the points in question ever published. I can say no more. 

 I agree with almost everything you say ; but I require much 

 time to digest an essay of such quality. It almost made me 

 gloomy, partly from feeling I could not answer some points 

 which theoretically I should have liked to have been differ- 

 ent, and partly from seeing so far better done that I could have 

 done, discussions on some points which I had intended to 

 have taken up. . . . 



I much enjoyed the slaps you have given to the provincial 

 species-mongers. I wish I could have been of the slightest 

 use : I have been deeply interested by the whole essay, and 

 congratulate you on having produced a memoir which I be- 

 lieve will be memorable. I was deep in it when your most 

 considerate note arrived, begging me not to hurry. I thank 

 Mrs. Hooker and yourself most sincerely for your wish to see 

 me. I will not let another summer pass without seeing you 

 at Kew, for indeed I should enjoy it much. . . . 



* Sir J. D. Hooker's ' Himalayan Journal.' 

 f ' New Zealand Flora,' 1S53. 



