Letter from Theodor Hartweg to the secretary of Horticultural Society of London [George Bentham]
Information
Title
Letter from Theodor Hartweg to the secretary of Horticultural Society of London [George Bentham]
Record type
Archive
Original Reference
RHS/Col/7/1/1/70
Date
24 Sep 1841
Scope & content
Written from Loxa [Loja, Ecuador]
Letter No 54
Annotated 'Recd [received] Ap 23 1842. J.L. [John Lindley, assistant secretary of Horticultural Society]'
He went on an excursion accompanied by 'three Indians' with hatchets to clear the road and an ox for carrying the provisions for Samora [Zamora, Ecuador], a former Indian village, 'the inhabitants of which, in order to liberate themselves of the Spanish yoke, have taken to the bush'; it rained non-stop for most of the six-day journey; he only managed to collect two species of palm, a few other seeds and about eight species of epiphytes; one of the palms is a fine, large tree, probably Humboldt's [Alexander von Humboldt, Prussian naturalist and explorer, who travelled in South America in 1799-1804] Ceroxylon andicola [Ceroxylon alpinum], 'which at a certain age exudes a kind of wax from the stem, which afterwards mixed with tallow is made into candles'; he made another, more successful, excursion to Malacatos [Ecuador] and Piscobamba [Ecuador], and found epiphytes including a new Cattleya, 'by far superior to C. skinneri [Guarianthe skinneri]'; he is planning a few more excursions to the cordillera [mountains] and then he will send his collections to Guayaquil [Ecuador] before continuing towards Quito [Ecuador]
Hartweg's accounts for 13 Aug-13 Sep 1841 comprise 'monthly allowance' $50, 'wages of mozo [servant]' $10, 'keeping of two mules' $6.3, 'freight of plants' $0.4, 'a guide' $0.2, 'three Indians, 6 days at 3s per day' $6.6 and 'for carrying &c 6 days' $0.6
Level
Item
Extent
3 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)