CEYLON BOTANIC GARDENS. 
7 
George Gardner, F.L.S., the well-known Brazilian traveller, 
who was appointed on the recommendation of Sir William 
Hooker. With his arrival the Department started on a new 
career. Only one quarter of the land was then in use ; the 
remainder was largely cleared and planted, new roads opened, 
and many new plants introduced from other countries. A 
new bungalow for the Superintendent was built in the centre 
of the garden, and the entrance lodge erected. Gardner 
travelled almost all over the Colony, and made large collec- 
tions of native plants, many of which were new to science. 
Unfortunately for the Department and for science, he died 
of apoplexy at Nuwara Eliya, at the early age of 37, in March, 
1849. A cenotaph, containing a brass to his memory, was 
erected in the gardens in 1855. His herbarium was pur- 
chased by the British Museum, and thus unfortunately lost 
to the Colony. 
From March to December, 1849, Mr. G. Fraser was Acting 
Superintendent of the Gardens pending the arrival of the 
newly-appointed Superintendent, George Henry Kendrick 
Thwaites, who was for 31 years to control the destinies of 
the Department, arid to do so much for scientific botany and 
for the planting industries of Ceylon. Born in Bristol in 
1812, Thwaites was 37 years old when he arrived in Ceylon, 
and had already/ won a distinguished reputation in Botany. 
Until about 1857 his duties were largely of a purely 
scientific kind, but afterwards his time was increasingly 
taken up with economic work. 
In 1854 a vigorous attempt was made in Council to abolish 
the gardens. They were defended by Mr. W. Ferguson in 
the Observer ” and by Dr. Bindley in the “ Gardeners' 
Chronicled Thwaites maintained the gardens in a very 
high state of efficiency and opened out further portions of 
the jungle for cultivation. The title of the post was changed 
from Superintendent to Director in 1857, and in 1860 a new 
European post was created, that of Conductor (now Curator), 
to which Mr. Cameron of Kew was appointed. This 
