Letter from Theodor Hartweg to the secretary of Horticultural Society [George Bentham], 21 Regent Street, London

Title

Letter from Theodor Hartweg to the secretary of Horticultural Society [George Bentham], 21 Regent Street, London

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/7/1/1/51

Date

23 Dec 1839

Scope & content

Written from Quezaltenango [Quetzaltenango, Guatemala]

Postmarked ('Penzance ship letter', [illegible] 4AP4 1840'). The letter includes an impression of an opened seal. Annotated on the reverse: 'Received at Belize January 20th and forwarded the 21st by George Nicholson [merchant in Belize]' and 'per Ceylon'

Letter No 36

He acknowledges receipt of a letter dated 30 Aug with instructions about the kinds of plants to be collected; he has made several excursions in the neighbourhood, but there are not many plants in the cold region, consisting mostly of barren pine and oak tracts with hardly any shrubs; the plains, where not cultivated, are covered with long, tufty grass 'which gives not the slightest chance to other plants'; he will send the 'few things' he has collected and then continue to the city of Guatemala [Guatemala city, Guatemala]; he found 'a kind of acorn of an extraordinary size' and will pack it in fine sand in the box of epiphytes, 'equally to your instructions'; the country is not politically settled, and some of the states are still at war with each other [the Federal Republic of Central America, a sovereign state consisting of former Spanish colonies, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, existed from 1823 to 1841; another state, Los Altos, with Quezaltenango as its capital was added in the 1830s, and between 1838 and 1840, the union was in civil war, which ended with the different states declaring independence]

The letter includes accounts, annotated in pencil in another hand. Hartweg's expenses for 17 Nov-16 Dec 1839 comprise 'monthly allowance' $50, 'wages of mozo [servant]' $10, 'keeping of 4 beasts' $8.7, 'shoeing' $4.4 and 'loss of exchange on 18 doubloons' $4.4. Written from Quezaltenango [Quetzaltenango, Guatemala]

Postmarked ('Penzance ship letter', [illegible] 4AP4 1840'). The letter includes an impression of an opened seal. Annotated on the reverse: 'Received at Belize January 20th and forwarded the 21st by George Nicholson [merchant in Belize]' and 'per Ceylon'

Letter No 36

He acknowledges receipt of a letter dated 30 Aug with instructions about the kinds of plants to be collected; he has made several excursions in the neighbourhood, but there are not many plants in the cold region, consisting mostly of barren pine and oak tracts with hardly any shrubs; the plains, where not cultivated, are covered with long, tufty grass 'which gives not the slightest chance to other plants'; he will send the 'few things' he has collected and then continue to the city of Guatemala [Guatemala city, Guatemala]; he found 'a kind of acorn of an extraordinary size' and will pack it in fine sand in the box of epiphytes, 'equally to your instructions'; the country is not politically settled, and some of the states are still at war with each other [the Federal Republic of Central America, a sovereign state consisting of former Spanish colonies, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, existed from 1823 to 1841; another state, Los Altos, with Quezaltenango as its capital was added in the 1830s, and between 1838 and 1840, the union was in civil war, which ended with the different states declaring independence]

The letter includes accounts, annotated in pencil in another hand. Hartweg's expenses for 17 Nov-16 Dec 1839 comprise 'monthly allowance' $50, 'wages of mozo [servant]' $10, 'keeping of 4 beasts' $8.7, 'shoeing' $4.4 and 'loss of exchange on 18 doubloons' $4.4

Level

Item

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)