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

Information

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

Scope & content: Written from Cape Town [South Africa]

Postmarked ('India letter Margate')

Marked at the top of the page 'No 17'. Annotated at the top of page: 'Joseph Sabine received June 27 1823'

They arrived four days ago and waited at Simon's Bay [South Africa] for any letters to be sent from Cape Town; he came to Cape Town at Captain Owen's [William FitzWilliam Owen, captain of HMS Leven] request to enquire after letters or parcels for either Owen or himself from Sabine: 'to my great disappointment I found none for either of us, not an answer to the letter written even at Rio Janeiro [Rio de Janeiro, Brazil]'; he has several specimens to send but needs to arrange them first; Owen is about to send an expedition up the River Zambeesy [Zambezi River, Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique]: 'I am to form one of the party'; the Portuguese have 'great possessions' along the river, and the rich city of Senna [Sena, Mozambique] is on its banks; the journey will take several months; their tender Cockburn was lost in Simon's Bay, but with no loss of cargo or lives

For a copy of the letter, see RHS/Col/3/5/35