P R E F A C E .
T I , K present Ifascici.lus of P k n l s growing on die Ooa.« of Coromandel , being die firsl of a progressive
work, »viLl, wliicli die HonouraUc Court oi' Directors of tlie East India Company lias delermincd to
lavour tlie pnUic, it is I,oped, will prove as acceptable to tlie lovers of Botany in general, as useful
at the Company^s csiablisliments abroad.
It is intended that tlic selection should be made from Eve hundred drawings and descriptions, jireseuted
to the Honourabl e Court of Directors by Dr. Wi l l iam Roxburgh, one of the Company' s mrfical
servants, and their Botanist in the Caniatic ; and, with a more immediate view to utility, while
preference wdll be given to subjects connected either with medicine, the arts, or manuiactures, tiie
l i b e r a l i t y of die Honourable Court of Director.s encourages the admission of new plants, or of such
as have hitherto been imperfectly described, although their qualities and uses may as yet remain
unexplored.
A f t e r all that lias been already done, India still preseius a wide field for research; and the progress
made, of late years, in other branches of knowledge, affords room to expect material ¡inprovcmcnt in
N a t i u a l History, if a rdour lor inquiry continues to prevai l ; if the means of making new acquisidons
are liicilitated; and if a spirit of scientific emulation among tlie Comjitniy' s servants abroad, meets with
such encouragement as mus t natuial l y tend to rescue many of those hour s of leisure flora indolent neglect,
w h i c h (considering the fertile advantages of situation) might be employed with no less pleasure to tlM
i n d i v i d u a l , than eventually to the public benefit.
T i l l within these forty years. Botany seems to have been litde attended to in the Carnade; about
w h i c h period, if not introduced, it was at least greatly promoted ijy a foreign naturalist.
.John Gerard Koeaig, a native (it is believed) of Conrland, and a pupU of Linnteus, contemporary
w i t h the late Dr . Solander, had early cbsdnguished himself, by hi s travels into Iceland, in the yeai 1761,'
a n d was honoured by having a plant named after him.
The precise time of his setdng out for Indi a is not known, but it was probably in 1768 ; as i n a letter
to Linnams, dated from Tranqiiebar, J u l y 26, 1769, he refers to another letter ivritten mme than diree
mondis before, which is not found among a number of his letters from India, now in the possession of
Dr. J ame s Edward Smith.
It appears that he went to India under the protection of the king of Denmark, pardy as physician
to die Danish settlement ,n the Carnatic, but chiefly for the pnrpo.se of making i.iiprovements in the
natural history of diat country ; and he resided for seveml years at T ranquebar , or in its vicinity, indel
a d g a b l y employed in I'esearclies of various iciuds.
Koenig was singularly qualified for the employment he had engaged in. More covetous of fame than
ol fortune, he persevered in his pursuits with an enthusiasm that .set bodily fatigue, spare meals, and
a scorclimg climate at defiance; while the simplicity of hi s manners, and his unassuming readiness to
imparl knowledge to others, conciliated, almost at first sight, the benevolence of those with whom he
conversed. Thus qualified for an inquisitive traveller, he became known at the Dutch, French and
E i i t i d i settlements on the Coast, which he occasionally visited m his excursions, and every svhere he
a c q u i r e d fi-iends.
' Mantissa Linn. Geo. PI, p IS,