Himalayan Journals | Page 8

a state with which I had no
acquaintance. There had been a great want of judgment in the
alterations made since Dr. Wallich's time, when they were celebrated as
the most beautiful gardens in the east, and were the great object of
attraction to strangers and townspeople. I found instead an unsightly
wilderness, without shade (the first requirement of every tropical
garden) or other beauties than some isolated grand trees, which had
survived the indiscriminate destruction of the useful and ornamental
which had attended the well-meant but ill-judged attempt to render a
garden a botanical class-book. It is impossible to praise too highly Dr.
Griffith's abilities and acquirements as a botanist, his perseverance and
success as a traveller, or his matchless industry in the field and in the
closet; and it is not wonderful, that, with so many and varied talents, he
should have wanted the eye of a landscape-gardener, or the education
of a horticulturist. I should, however, be wanting in my duty to his
predecessor, and to his no less illustrious successor, were these remarks
withheld, proceeding, as they do, from an unbiassed observer, who had
the honour of standing in an equally friendly relation to all parties.
Before leaving India, I saw great improvements, but many years must
elapse before the gardens can resume their once proud pre-eminence.
I was surprised to find the Botanical Gardens looked upon by many of
the Indian public, and even by some of the better informed official men,
as rather an extravagant establishment, more ornamental than useful.
These persons seemed astonished to learn that its name was renowned
throughout Europe, and that during the first twenty years especially of
Dr. Wallich's superintendence, it had contributed more useful and
ornamental tropical plants to the public and private gardens of the
world than any other establishment before or since.* [As an illustration
of this, I may refer to a Report presented to the government of Bengal,
from which it appears that between January, 1836, and December, 1840,

189,932 plants were distributed gratis to nearly 2000 different gardens.]
I speak from a personal knowledge of the contents of our English
gardens, and our colonial ones at the Cape, and in Australia, and from
an inspection of the ponderous volumes of distribution lists, to which
Dr. Falconer is daily adding. The botanical public of Europe and India
is no less indebted than the horticultural to the liberality of the Hon.
East India Company, and to the energy of the several eminent men who
have carried their views into execution.* [I here allude to the great
Indian herbarium, chiefly formed by the staff of the Botanic Gardens
under the direction of Dr. Wallich, and distributed in 1829 to the
principal museums of Europe. This is the most valuable contribution of
the kind ever made to science, and it is a lasting memorial: of the
princely liberality of the enlightened men who ruled the counsels of
India in those days. No botanical work of importance has been
published since 1829, without recording its sense of the obligation, and
I was once commissioned by a foreign government, to purchase for its
national museum, at whatever cost, one set of these collections, which
was brought to the hammer on the death of its possessor. I have heard it
remarked that the expense attending the distribution was enormous, and
I have reason to know that this erroneous impression has had an
unfavourable influence upon the destination of scarcely less valuable
collections, which have for years been lying untouched in the cellars of
the India House. I may add that officers who have exposed their lives
and impaired their health in forming similar ones at the orders and
expense of the Indian government, are at home, and thrown upon their
own resources, or the assistance of their scientific brethren, for the
means of publishing and distributing the fruits of their labours.] The
Indian government, itself, has already profited largely by these gardens,
directly and indirectly, and might have done so still more, had its
efforts been better seconded either by the European or native
population of the country. Amongst its greatest triumphs may be
considered the introduction of the tea-plant from China, a fact I allude
to, as many of my English readers may not be aware that the
establishment of the tea-trade in the Himalaya and Assam is almost
entirely the work of the superintendents of the gardens of Calcutta and
Seharunpore.

From no one did I receive more kindness than from Sir James Colvile,
President of the Asiatic Society, who not only took care that I should be
provided with every comfort, but presented me with a completely
equipped palkee, which, for strength and excellence of construction,
was everything that a traveller could desire. Often en route did I
mentally thank