THE FOUNDING OF SINGAPORE. 181 



lie immortalized his name by the discovery of one of the 

 greatest prodigies in nature that has been yet met with, a 

 flower of great beauty but more remarkable for its dimen- 

 sions ; it measures a full yard across, weighs fifteen pounds, 

 and contains in the Nectary no less than eight pints, each 

 petal being 11 inches in breadth and there being five of 

 them. I sent a short description of this plant, with a draw- 

 ing and part of the flower itself, to Sir Joseph Banks : from 

 whom, or some of the members of the Royal Society, you may 

 probably have heard more particulars. I have now with 

 me as a Botanist Dr. Jaik, a gentleman .'highly qualified, 

 and we are daily making very important additions to our 

 Herbarium. We have recently discovered at this place some 

 very beautiful species of the Nepenthes or Pitcher Plant, 

 which in elegance and brilliancy far surpass any thing I 

 have yet seen in this quarter — the plant is very remark- 

 able, and though the genus has been generally describ- 

 ed but little is known of the different species. We are now 

 engaged in making drawings of them, with a few other of 

 the most remarkable and splendid productions of the vege- 

 table world which we have met with, and propose forming 

 them into a volume to be engraved in Europe. This will be an 

 earnest of what we propose to do hereafter, and you will 

 oblige me much by informing' me whether His Serene 

 Highness would have any objection to the first result of our 

 labours being dedicated to him ; there will not be above six 

 or eight engravings, but they will be on a large scale. 



Besides our Botanical pursuits I have in my family two 

 French naturalists, one of them step-son to the celebrated 

 Cuvier ; their attention is principally directed to Zoology, but 

 we include in our researches every thing that is interesting 

 in the mineral kingdom ; our collection of Birds is already 

 very extensive, and in the course of two or three years we 

 hope to complete our more important researches in Sumatra. 

 We shall endeavour to include the Malay Peninsula, Borneo 

 and elsewhere, wherever the Dutch, who are the Vandals 

 of the East, do not establish themselves to our exclusion. 

 I hope the plants &c. by Dr. Horsfleld reached Claremont 

 in safety and tolerable preservation. 



On the West Coast of Sumatra abound great varieties 

 of Asallims and Madrepores ; but few of these are known in 

 England, and collections are rare. I am preparing a few for 

 Claremont and shall be happy to hear from you if they are 

 likely to be acceptable, or what would be more so. I beg of 



