List of plants and notes on Portuguese by John Forbes

Title

List of plants and notes on Portuguese by John Forbes

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/3/4/27

Date

c.1823

Scope & content

Notebook containing a list of plants and notes on the Portuguese language

Overview of contents:
Page 1: Notes
Pages 2-6: Blank
Pages 7-13: Notes on the grammar of Portuguese language
Pages 14-15: Blank
Pages 16-21: List of plants, 20-29 Jul [1822 or 1823]
Pages 22-76: Blank
Pages 77-78: List of Portuguese phrases
Pages 79-83: Blank
Page 84: Notes

Physical description: Bound in soft paper covers marbled in red/brown shell pattern with blue veins. Labelled 'Forbes' Papers 1825'. The binding is mostly intact but weak. Pages are generally reasonably robust. Fragile. Handle with care. Dimensions: 20 (h) x 16 (w) cm

Summary of contents:

Miscellaneous notes, in two unidentified hands, with latitudes and longitudes (latitude 34°15, longitude 18°20') and calculations (21.10-18.20=2.50 [sic], 170 miles+75=245, 35.30-34.15=1.15), and a note in a third hand in pencil ('Mache de todos los santos')

Pages 7-13: Notes on Portuguese grammar, in two different unidentified hands, including notes on the definite articles ('the Portuguese have two definite articles, o for the mas [masculine], a for the fem [feminine]'), indefinite articles ('whenever we meet 'of' or 'to' in English followed by 'the', we must make use of the Portuguese article 'o' or 'a'') and the gender of nouns ('the Portuguese nouns have several sorts of terminations. They have but two genders, mas [masculine] & fem [feminine]. They have no variation of cases as the Latin'), with examples and paradigms for the declensions

Pages 16-21: List of plants, 20-29 Jul [?1822 or 1823] (specimens 1-39), with information arranged over two pages in columns headed number, class, order, natural order, genera, species and remarks, including a species of 'Ruellia?' ('flower white or blush, two feet high, marshy rice grounds'), a species of Desmanthus ('flower deep yellow, moist situation'), a species of Orchideae ('parasite, flower white'), a species of Amaranthus [amaranth] ('dark red, every situation. The young tops and leaves of this plant boiled & eaten by the natives') and a species of Justicia ('flower white, sandy soil') [here the list includes 34 more plants]. At the end of the list, added in another hand, Oct-Nov [?1824], three further plants, comprising a plant in the class Monoecia ('flower green, herb [portion of text in another script] mgagapaka, found in the burial ground at Monbas[?]. Cats delight in the root'), Asclepias ('[portion of text in another script], Patakooma. Bastard ipecacuan[?], the root a medicine with properties similar to the kalemba, or kahooma. Root carrot-shaped. Flower red & orange') and a plant in the class Dioecia ('see Dr Wallich's [Nathaniel Wallich, surgeon and botanist in India] description, at Mozambique, two plants on bd [board]')
The volume has been reversed, with notes at the back of the volume

[Pages 77-78] List of Portuguese phrasal verbs for 'andar' and 'dar', in an unidentified hand, some translated, including 'andar a pe, to go on foot', 'andar a vela, to sail', 'andar eom o tempo, to go with the time', 'andar de galope' and 'dar a entender' [here the list includes approximately 30 more phrases]

[Page 84] Note in pencil in an unidentified hand: 'To the qualities of an officer he united the politeness of a gentleman & was richly endowed with all the virtues that ought to adorn the Christian & the philosopher'

Extent

1 volume

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)