348 THE EETURN FROM INDIA 
was granted for three years. Thus a great part of his labour 
was unremunerative. Nearly ten years later, however, he 
was agreeably surprised by a grant of £500 from the Admiralty 
in recognition of his ' zeal, perseverance, and scientific abihty 
in his botanical services ' ; quite a new feature in his relations 
with My Lords Commissioners. His account of this appears 
in a letter to Huxley (1860), who responds : ' The Admiralty 
affair pleases me very much. It is only right and just, but still 
I think you may well be gratified. Justice does not always 
come in so pleasant a form.' 
To T. H. Huxley 
Dear'j^H. — My vanity will not stand the holding this 
back from you. I must confess to being amazingly ^tickled 
after twenty-two years' service of sorts, at receiving a hand- 
some and spontaneous expression'of unqualified approbation 
from my Lords of the Foul'Anchor. I had made the apphca- 
tion in due form for the small arrears (of three years' pay) 
that was due (for nine years' work) ; and just by way of 
not thi'owing a chance away, in spite of my vdie's laughs, 
I sent a crackhng cartridge of foolscap vdth. a statement 
of the length and breadth of my works and pay. I said 
nothing of quahty, the Nav}'- being the only service in which 
I never saw a fellow do good by praising himself. I made 
no grievance. I used no influence of any kind or sort or 
description, nor did my Father. Washington ^ immediately 
took the matter up and sent me a dozen queries from my 
Lords ; I answered all categorically, some three months 
ago — and lo the result ! 
His second great task was to work out his Indian collections. 
They had been made for Kew under the auspices of the Woods 
and Forests Department, which governed Kew, and unless 
worked out, arranged, and housed, were, like his Zoological 
collections on the Erebus, just so much labour thrown away. 
To this end he desired apphcation to be made to the Depart- 
^ John .Washington (1800-63), Rear-Admiral, entered the navy in 1812 and 
travelled much between 1822 and 1853 : Secretary of the Royal Geographical 
Society 1836-41. He was engaged on the East Coast Survey 1841-7, and 
became F.R.S. 1845, Assistant Hydrographer and Hj'drographer 1855-62. 
He was Hooker's companion on his Syrian exploration. 
