416 M. A. De Candolle on the Tea Plant of Assam. [April 



art, Mr. William Griffith, a young man deeply acquainted with general 

 and physiolog : cal botany, who cannot fail to acquire great celebrity. 

 Another gentleman of the East India Company's Medical Service, will 

 accompany me as geologist ; this is Mr. John M. Clelland, who is pub- 

 lishing here at this moment a work on the geology of Kemaon. 1 am 

 proud to say, that it was at my recommendation that these gentlemen 

 are attached to the mission. 



" We hope to be on our return in the month of April next year, by 

 which time the principal end of our journey will, I think, be accom- 

 plished in a satisfactory manner. This end is to make every possible 

 research as to the locality of the true tea (wild and spontaneous) in 

 Upper Assam. It is unnecessary to say that I calculate on making 

 with Mr. Griffith an extensive collection of plants, and I need not add 

 that I hope to send you specimens. I shall send the whole to the East 

 India Company, but I shall take care expressly to request that you 

 may have the duplicates, and I know too well the munificence of the 

 Directors to doubt that my desire will be attended to. The government 

 has been very liberal in the dispositions made for our mission to Assam, 

 as well regarding me as my assist nts. I take with me many draughts- 

 men and gardinersr and if I am able to exert the same ardour and ener- 

 gy as in my early expeditions, I believe we shall obtain good results. 

 But I assure you that twenty-eight years' sojourn in India have en- 

 feebled my mind and body ; so that the best assurance of success lies 

 in the incalculable advantage of being assisted by such excellent 

 companions."* 



Abstract of a Report on the Climate and Diseases of Van DiemarCs 

 Land, hij W. Milligan, Esq. m. d., Assistant Surgeon, H. M. 63d Re- 

 giment. — The new colony of Western Australia, according to Dr. Milli- 

 gan, is situated on the Western Coast of New Holland, and extends from 

 Cape Londonderry, in latitude 13° 44' South, to West Cape Horne, in 

 latitude 33° 8', and from longitude 112° 52' to 129° from the meridian 

 of Greenwich. The Swan River district, the one first settled, and still 

 the most important, is situated in between latitude 32° and 33° ; the 

 entire area being about 50 miles long by 30 in breadth. The country is 

 generally of the open forest description, the surface undulating, and 

 covered with a great profusion of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. 

 Three rivers intersect this valley, the Swan, the Canning, and the Mur- 

 ray. They are subject to the influence of the tides, abound with fish, 

 and, though generally shallow, are subject to occasional inundations, 

 which leave extensive alluvial deposits. The Swan is navigable for 



* Translated from the Annates des Sciences JVaturelles, Fevrier, 1836.— Editor Madras 

 Journal. 



