2 A liltlEP MEMOIE OP
doYOtion to it; and tlioro can be little donbt tliat tlie doily interconräo of two sncli
men in an nnfamiliar country, n-hore every plant was comparatively new to tlieni, must
have afforded the greatest mutual satisEactiou, as well as tlie strongest mutual stiniuliia
to work. The researches of the two friends iuto the botanical sources of tlie indigenous
economic products of the Carnatic impressed tile Madras Government so favourably that,
f r om 1778, tbe Madras Beard made a monthly allowance to Dr. Koeiiig to enable him
to extend his enquiries to Siam and the Straits of Malacca, and in 1780 he was
formally admitted into the Company's sen-ice. Kocnig died ol dysentery on the 20th
ot June 178.5; ho was attended during his last illness by Uo.^burgh, who makes a
toucliiug allusion to him in the following note appended to his description of Jloxhiirffhia
ghriosoides, Dryand. {Fl. Ind. II, 236). "This," writes Roxburgh, "was one of the last
plants Dr. Kocnig saw. It was brought in when he was on his death-bed. He did attempt
to examine it, but ivas unable; for the cold hand of death bung over him. Ho desired
that I would describe it particularly, for he thought it was new, and uncommonly
curious and bcaufifal. Tins observation from a worthy friend, a preceptor, and
predecessor has made ms more than usually minute in describing and drawing it."
Koenig was immediately succeeded in bis appointmont as Government Botanist by
Dr. P. Kussel who, however, held the office for but a short time, and ho in turn was
saccceded by Dr. Roxburgh. Roxburgh, who was presumably attached to a regiment
(I can, however, find no definite information on the point) was moved about from place
t o place; but, from his first arrival in the Madras Presidency until his transfer to the
Calcutta'Botanic Garden in 1793, his service was confined to the Noithern Circars, and a
^ 1 of it was at Samulcotta,* a small station about seven miles from the town of
Coconada, and about twenty-two from one of tlie mouths of the Qodavery river.
Samulcotta stands on the edge of a hilly region possessing a very interesting Flora.
gr
I ' o r years it had been the practice, both of Koenig and of Roxburgh, to describe and
make draivings of every plant they met. During his life-time Koenig had transmitted
many specimens of plants to Europe, some ot which bad been published in the Siipplemeuuim
SjisUmaA Plantarmn of the younger Limu-eas and in Retz's Ohermlimei
JManiex; while others had been described by Schräder and by Vahl. Papers written by
Koenig himself had also been pubhshed in the Transactions of the learned Societies of
Berlin, Copenhagen, and Land; and one in the first volume of the Transactions of the
Limm'an Socioty°of London. By Koenig's will, all his letters, papers, and unpublished
manuscripts, as well as his dried specimens of plants, were bequeathed to Sir Joseph
Hanks President of the lioyal Society oi London. Up to the time of Koenig's death
Roxbu'ro-h had, so far as can bo learnt, sent no plants to Earope, and had himself published
nothing. Between the years 1791 and 1794, however, ho transmitted, to tho Court
of Directors "in Loudon, descriptions and figures of no fewer than five hundred species.
T h e Court placed these in the hands of Sir Joseph Banks, who selected three hundred
of them which were published, at the Company's expense, in three large folio volumes
under the title Tlic Plants of tie Coast of Connianäel. This was Roxburgh's earliest
book- the first part of it appeared in 1795, the lust not until 1819. Contemporary with
• In tlie artie!. • &IX Q Kmiilit
toll, torn J781 ™U1 l i i » « " i " 1«
ducked tia plinth yielding eoitee, cinnamon,
„ n l l e n j tiee. >ei »»J' «' r 'n»'
eulliyotien of sugnr, in tlie rearing of siike
ajHopo^dia of .
• and also lliat
iographj/, it is t
t SamuIeoLta lie
id aappan wood as n
id to liave interested li
infacture of siiir.
stationed at Saniniiblisi
tiie brend-fru
tVILLIAM HOXBUItGH.
Roxburgh in India there were, in the end of the last and the early part of the present
century, many keen Botanists, chief among whom may be mentioned Anderson, Berry,
Campbell, Carey, Colebrooke, Fleming, Hardwicke, Kyd, Heyne, Hunter, Buchanan-
Hamilton, John, Sir W. Jones, Klein, Leschcnault, Bottler, Itussell, Sliuter, and Sonnerat.
All these men probably received some stimulus from the ardour o£ Koemg, who
appears to have beeu in India a sort of amtm- of Linno=us. The majority of them
e o L u t c d theiusclves, however, with collecting and distributing unnamed spccnucns of
Indian plants. iMany of their plants sent to Earope were published by Linnaius hlius,
Lamarck Roth, Retz, Smith, Valil, A. P. Do Candolle and others; while not a few were
published in India by Roxburgh himself. Bottler did indeed issue some species bearing
manuscript names, some of which havo been kept up. But Roxburgh was the only mo
of the ™u p who attempted to give an account ot any considerable number oi Indian
plants in the form of a Flora, and for this reason he lias been callcd tho "Failier of
Indian Botany" and " the Limiams of India."
Colonel Robert Kyd, tlie Founder and first Superintendent ot tho Botanic Garden
a t Calcatta, having died in May 1793, Roxburgh was appointed to succeed him, and
he took charge of the Calcutta Garden on 29th November of tho same year. Colonel
Kyd had never lived in tho garden; in fact there was no house fit for occupation
b y a European within its precincts. Uoxburgh, however, determined to live in it, and
one of the first matters which occupied his attention was tho building of a house
for himself. The spot selected by Uoxburgh for his house (the present Superintendent's
quarters) was on a bold promontory wliere tho river Hooghly makes a bend.
This site is marked in the old charts and maps as "thanna, " and had at one tiiiio
been occupied by a old tort. On tho left bank of the Hooghly, just opposite this
•promontory and on the site ot the village still known as Mattiabnij (mud-basti.m), there
stood in former days a similar tort; and the two formed a protection against enemies
and pirates coming up the river. Roxburgh does not appear to have been so expert
a t building as he was at Botany. For the cost of the house erected by him exceeded
t h e sum allotted by the Honourable Company by a considerable sum, and the Accountant-
General of the period, with the obduracy hereditary to his office, refused to pay the
excess.
Roxburgh appears to have anived at Calcutta with a constitution impaired by hard
botanical work in the feverish jungles of the Camatic; for, within four years ot his
transfer to the Botanic Garden (i.e., in 1797), ho was obliged to make a voyage borne
for the re-csiablishmmt of his health.« In Octobor 1799 he returned to Calcutta. But so
soon as 1805 he had again to visit England on account of illness, and during this second
visit he lived at Chelsea. Ho returned to Calcutta for the last time apparently about
1808; but during the hot season of 1813 his health completely broke down, and he
was compelled to undertake a sea-voyage, which ho at first intended should have been
only to the Capo of Good Hope. His health, however, did not improve sufficiently at
t h e Cape to warrant his return to Calcutta, and he therefore extended his voyage to
St. Helena, and finally to England. Shortly after his arrival at home, ho proceeded
to Edinburgh, where he died at Park Place on tho 18th Febraary 181.0. He was
buried in the Greyl'riars Churchyard there in the tomb of the Boswolls of Auchinlcch,
* Aerordiiig to one aeeount, it was during this visit to Scotland tliat Rosbui'gli proceeded to tiie degree ot Doetoi
of llcdieiuo at tire ITniTersitj of Edinburgh.
Axn. Eoy. Bot. G.^nu. C.\i.cun-A, Yo l . Y.