Letter from Robert Fortune to the secretary of the Horticultural Society [Alexander Henderson], Regent St, London

Title

Letter from Robert Fortune to the secretary of the Horticultural Society [Alexander Henderson], Regent St, London

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/8/2/3

Date

14 Nov 1843

Scope & content

Written from Chusan [Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China]

The letter includes an opened seal. Written on onion-skin paper

Letter No 3

The weather during the journey up the coast was very bad; he had planned to explore the islands of Koo-lung-soo [Gulangyu, Fujian, China] and Amoy [Xiamen, Fujian] and the mainland, where he found 'little obstruction from the natives'; after a fortnight in Amoy, he found a vessel sailing northwards for Chusan, but they encountered heavy monsoon gales in the Formosa Channel [Taiwan Strait, Taiwan, China] and had to return once to Chinchew [Quanzhou, Fujian] and once to Chimoo [unidentified, Fujian] 'in a very shaken condition', the ship having lost most of her sails; whenever they stopped, he went on shore to inspect the vegetation for several miles inland, 'so that our disasters were rather fortunate'; he gained a better idea of the kinds of plants growing along the coast and collected several plants during these stops; he arrived at Chusan about three weeks ago and has been exploring the island and other nearby islands; he has found several 'very ornamental' plants and seeds; one shrub ('No 22') is particularly beautiful, and he encloses a drawing made by an unnamed Chinese artist and two small seed packets [enclosures not present], and will send more later along with a live plant; he also sends seeds of a beautiful Campanulaceous plant; the Ericaceous shrubs are 'probably of most value', but he is unable to judge the ornamental value of most of them, as he has not seen them in flower, selecting the seeds according to the 'general appearance' of the plants: 'they are all well worth a trial'; he will not send his collection from here, but wait until he returns to Hong Kong himself, probably in January; he would prefer to send all his seeds through the post office 'in the same manner as they do in India', and will at least send samples that way; he will continue to Shang Hai [Shanghai, China] and from there to Ning Po [Ningbo, Zhejiang, China]; 'the natives up here are particularly civil, much more so than they are on the coast further south'; he had some 'adventures' at Chimoo with smugglers; the different towns or regions along the coast are 'regularly at war with each other' and people carry arms to defend themselves; his servant ('who is rather a lazy fellow, and likes to take shortcuts during our travels') was threatened with knives: 'luckily for him, I happened to turn round at the time and observed what was going on [and] ran to his assistance, when the Chinese soon took to their heels and left him. I suspected an attack several times during the day, but they were generally civil towards me'; he asks for his salary to 'remain in the hands of the Society on interest'

Fortune's expenses for 25 Aug-31 Oct 1843 include 'wages of servant for one month' $8, 'passage money to Amoy' $100, 'paid to Chinamen for bring [bringing] plants &c' $5, 'sundry expenses during three days in Chimoo' $8, 'personal expenses for one week' $10 [here the list includes 11 more items], with the total of $89.50. Includes a note regarding his drawing of small sums from Messrs Dent [merchants in China] and settling his accounts when he reaches Macao [Macau]

Extent

4 page letter (1 sheet)

Is part of

RHS archive: plant collector papers

Repository

Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library

Copyright

Royal Horticultural Society

Credit Line

RHS Lindley Collections

Usage terms

Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0)