
          Recd. [Received] Feby [February] 13th Ansd [Answered] March 5th


 West Point Feby [February] 1834


 Dear friend


 I received your kind 
 letter of the 4th inst. [instant] yesterday & cannot but
 reproach myself for not writing to you
 long before this. The small box of plants
 that you mention had ran a narrow
 gauntlet for its existence. The belief in which
 it was first shipped, ran upon the breakers
 & a great part of her cargo was thrown
 overboard for her preservation, & when I heard
 of the circumstance I sincerely hoped that
 that the box had found a watery grave; for
 I reflected only after I had dispatched it
 on what a paltry collection it contained -
 & [crossed out : ?] what a poor apology it was for 
 specimens of the botanical [?](?) of Florida.
 I was in haste when I made this
 shadow of a collection. An opportunity
 of sending [crossed out : to th] a box to the North was 
 suddenly offered & I hastily gathered
 up what plants I could, to take advantage
 of the conveyance & hence the 

        