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superintendent of the Penang Forests and the Gardens where he re- 

 mained till 1903, when illness, no doubt, induced by his hard labours 

 in Madagascar and the East Indies in the cause of Botany and 

 Horticulture, compelled his retirement to England. He returned to 

 Devonshire, his former home, and is occupying himself in the culti- 

 vation and improvement of roses," sweet peas, tomatos and other 

 plants. 



During his superintendence of the Penang Gardens, he did not 

 confine his attentions to Horticulture only. His collections of her- 

 barium specimens were very valuable and contributed largely to the 

 knowledge of the Flora of the Malay Peninsula. His name is 

 associated with a very large number of plants discovered by him in 

 his expeditions. 



Besides the ordinary reports, and accounts of expeditions he 

 published a list of the plants of Penang in the Journal of the Straits 

 Branch of the Royal Asistic Society and a Latin-Malay hst of plant 

 names in the same Journal. He also wrote a number of articles on 

 agriculture in the Bulletin, chiefly dealing with his experiments and 

 observations on rubber, gutta percha, and many other economics. 

 The foundation of the series of Agricultural Exhibitions on a large 

 and more general scale than they were formerly held was due to his 

 initiative. He was made a fellow of the Linean Society for his 

 contributions to Botanical Science. 



History of the Gardens of the Peninsula. 



As has been mentioned in the first part of this article the Gardens 

 doomed to disappear are the third gardens made and destroyed in 

 Penang since its founding, and though reference has been made in a 

 previous paper to the history of the Gardens of the Peninsula it will 

 be interesting no doubt to many to read the story of the previous 

 Gardens as fully as I have been at present able to trace their history. 

 The first settlement at Penang was made in 1786, by Captain Light, 

 and shortly after this the Honourable East India Company decided 

 tf) start spice-gardens with a view of breaking down the Dutch mono- 

 poly of the spice cultivation and trade. So in 1794 Christopher 

 .Smith was appointed their Botanist, and in 1796 was sent to the 

 Moluccas to collect living plants of nutmegs and cloves with which to 

 start the cultivation. In 1798 five park-slaves from the Banda 

 nutmeg parks, as they were called, arrived in Penang, sent by the 

 Resident of Banda to look after the nutmegs and cloves, of which 

 about 600 nutmeg plants and half a dozen clove trees had been already 

 received in Penang. In May, 1800, there were 1300 plants in the 

 Gardens, which consisted of 20 orlongs at Ayer Hitam and 300 

 orlongs reserved at Sungei Cloan, chiefly for growing pepper. 

 In June 29, the ship Amboyna arrived from Amboyna with 15,000 

 cloves and 500 nutmeg trees. The Botanic Gardens were now much 

 enlarged, and it was urged that Mr. Smith should return and take 



