16 



RUMPHIUS'S HERBARIUM AMBOINENSE 



boinense. Undaunted by this last catastrophe, he replaced the 

 destroyed illustrations by new drawings, some made by his son, 

 P. A. Rumphius, others made by various assistants supplied 

 by the East India Company. Thus in attempting to interpret 

 Rumphian species the fact must be constantly kept in mind that 

 the illustrations were not made from the actual specimens on 

 which the corresponding descriptions were based. In this con- 

 nection I venture to give the following translation of Rumphius's 

 own statement : * 



The plates were drawn, by various artists, some of the figures larger, 

 some smaller, but each marked with its name, which I myself never saw 

 [italics mine] ; but I have learned from the skilled, and am informed that 

 they sufficiently agree with the plants themselves, but what ought some- 

 times to be changed I have marked on the plates themselves or in the text. 

 However, the reader may take these as sufficiently faithful and pleasing, 

 while perchance they may be corrected by others, or better ones produced, 

 for he will readily perceive that in this country I have not been provided 

 with the best artists, for which reason also I have not been ashamed to 

 refer him to other works with larger and better plates, especially Rheede, 

 which has recently been published. 



This passage explains much in connection with the Herbarium 

 Amboinense, such as the very crude execution of some figures and 

 the excellent reproduction of others; the union, in a few cases, 

 of the characters of totally different species on a single drawing 

 such as Pemphis and Aegiceras, and Urena and Triumfetta; the 

 fact that certain drawings do not conform to the characters 

 given in the description that they are supposed to represent ; the 

 absence of drawings to illustrate species that are fully described ; 

 why certain species, certainly as common in Amboina in Rumph- 

 ius's time as they are to-day, are not mentioned in the work; 

 and perhaps the rather striking discrepancies in the magnifica- 

 tions or reductions of parts of various species so evident on 

 many of the drawings. 



In 1690 the manuscript of the first six books was delivered to 

 the Dutch East India Company, the remaining parts being de- 

 livered in 1695. The manuscript of the first six books was 

 forwarded to Holland from Batavia, Java, in 1692 on the Water- 

 land. This ship was destroyed by the French in transit, and the 

 manuscript was lost with the ship. Fortunately a copy had been 

 retained, and thus the fruit of Rumphius's many years of labor 

 was not lost. A copy of these six books was finally sent to 

 Holland in 1696, the manuscript of the remaining six books was 



* Herb. Amb. 1 (1741) author's preface, last page. 



