Letter from John Forbes to Joseph Sabine [secretary of the Horticultural Society of London], Horticultural Society, Regent Street, London

Title

Letter from John Forbes to Joseph Sabine [secretary of the Horticultural Society of London], Horticultural Society, Regent Street, London

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/3/5/21

Date

28 Jul 1822

Scope & content

Written from Simon's Town [Cape of Good Hope, South Africa]

Postmarked ('14 Oct 1822'). An opened seal is attached to the letter

Marked at the top of the page 'No 11'. Annotated at the top of page: 'Joseph Sabine received Oct 14 1822'

He intended to send about 30 bird skins and some seeds by the ship [by which he is sending the letter], but the albatross skins were not sufficiently dry to send; he has been unable to do almost any collecting due to the 'excessive wet' weather since their arrival; he visited Cape Town [South Africa], delivering all his letters, but was unable to reach Mr Rivers [Henry Rivers, British colonial officer in South Africa] who is landrost [landdrost, a kind of a magistrate] of a new settlement in Albany [South Africa], about 600 miles from Cape Town; as they may go on an expedition or encounter Rivers at a later stage, he is retaining the letter for him; when he delivered his letter to Lord Charles Somerset [Charles Henry Somerset, governor of the Cape Colony, South Africa] he was treated with great kindness, and promises of assistance; Mr Villet [Charles Mathurin Villet, naturalist and zoological merchant in South Africa] has seeds and bulbs to send to the Society; Mr Bowey [James Bowie, botanist sent to South Africa from Royal Gardens, Kew] is at Algoa Bay [South Africa] but expected to return to Cape Town soon, and Forbes is looking forward to seeing him and his collection; the Barracouta is intending to return to Cape of Good Hope the following February; by that time he will need several items, including four or five reams of strong brown paper, another hundred weight of shot, another canister of preserving powder, more knives ('for my own use') and a good penknife, along with several 'of the very common knives to barter with the natives' and gun flints, as 'nothing can be done without something of this kind' to trade; he would very much like to receive Burchall's 'Travels' [William Burchell, 'Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa', 1822] if it has not already been sent; bringing a double gun instead of two single ones would have been much more useful; a ship from England arrived on 13 Jul with mail, but still nothing for him; he is anxious to hear from Sabine; the passage took 72 days, and they are likely to remain for another month at Simon's Town [South Africa], with the Barracouta sailing to Algoa Bay to wait for the Leven; he will forward the specimens from Brazil and a copy of his journal as soon as they are ready; he remains healthy and sends his respects to all friends; his two flamingo skins are not yet dry but he will send them as soon as they are; 'one of the young gentlemen' on the Barracouta has offered to shoot birds for him and has ordered a gun to be sent to the Society's house, to be forwarded to Forbes; eight vessels have been wrecked in Table Bay [South Africa] since their arrival: 'the weather has been worse than was even remembered'

For a copy of the letter, see RHS/Col/3/5/22

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)