Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries Part 1

Journals of Travels in a.s.sam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and The Neighbouring Countries.

by William Griffith.

NOTICE OF WILLIAM GRIFFITH, from the Proceedings of the Linnaean Society, with a few extracts from his private correspondence.

"WILLIAM GRIFFITH, Esq., the youngest son of the late Thomas Griffith, was born on the 4th of March 1810, at his father's residence at Ham Common, near Kingston-upon-Thames, in the county of Surrey.

"He was educated for the Medical profession, and completed his studies at the London University, where he became a pupil of Prof. Lindley, under whose able instructions, a.s.sisted by the zealous friends.h.i.+p of Mr. R. H.

Solly, and in conjunction with two fellow pupils of great scientific promise, Mr. Slack and Mr. Valentine, he made rapid progress in the acquisition of botanical knowledge. The first public proofs that he gave of his abilities are contained in a microscopic delineation of the structure of the wood and an a.n.a.lysis of the flower of _Phytocrene_ _gigantea_, in the third volume of Dr. Wallich's 'Plantae Asiaticae Rariores'; and in a note on the development and structure of _Targionia_ _hypophylla_, appended to M. de Mirbel's Dissertation on _Marchantia_ _polymorpha_, both published in 1832. So highly were his talents as an observer appreciated at this early period, that Dr. Wallich speaks of him as one "whose extraordinary talents and knowledge as a botanist, ent.i.tle him to the respect of all lovers of the science;" and M. de Mirbel characterizes him as "jeune Anglois, tres instruit, tres zele et fort bon observateur."

"His note on _Targionia_ is dated Paris, April 2nd, 1832, and in the month of May of the same year, having finished his studies at the London University with great distinction, he sailed from England for India, which was destined to be the scene of his future labours. He arrived at Madras on the 24th of September, and immediately received his appointment as a.s.sistant-Surgeon in the service of the East India Company.

"His first appointment in India was to the coast of Tena.s.serim; but in the year 1835 he was attached to the Bengal Presidency, and was selected to form one of a deputation, consisting of Dr. Wallich and himself as botanists, and Mr. MacClelland as geologist, to visit and inspect the Tea- forests (as they were called) of a.s.sam, and to make researches in the natural history of that almost unexplored district.

"This mission was for Mr. Griffith the commencement of a series of journeys in pursuit of botanical knowledge, embracing nearly the whole extent of the East India Company's extra-peninsular possessions, and adding large collections, in every branch of natural history, but especially botany, to those which, under the auspices of the Indian Government, had previously been formed. He next, under the directions of Capt. Jenkins, the Commissioner, pushed his investigations to the utmost eastern limit of the Company's territory, traversing the hitherto unexplored tracts in the neighbourhood of the Mishmee mountains which lie between Suddiya and Ava. Of the splendid collection of insects formed during this part of his tour some account has been given by Mr. Hope in the Transactions of the Entomological Society and in the eighteenth volume of our own Transactions.

"His collection of plants was also largely increased on this remarkable journey, which was followed by a still more perilous expedition, commenced in February of the following year, from a.s.sam through the Burmese dominions to Ava, and down the Irrawadi to Rangoon, in the course of which he was reported to have been a.s.sa.s.sinated. The hards.h.i.+ps through which he pa.s.sed during the journey and his excessive application produced, soon after his arrival in Calcutta, a severe attack of fever: on his recovery from which he was appointed Surgeon to the Emba.s.sy to Bootan, then about to depart under the charge of the late Major Pemberton. He took this opportunity of revisiting the Khasiya Hills, among which he formed a most extensive collection; and having joined Major Pemberton at Goalpara, traversed with him above 400 miles of the Bootan country, from which he returned to Calcutta about the end of June 1839. In November of the same year he joined the army of the Indus in a scientific capacity, and penetrated, after the subjugation of Cabool, beyond the Hindoo Khoosh into Khora.s.san, from whence, as well as from Affghanistan, he brought collections of great value and extent. During these arduous journeys his health had several times suffered most severely, and he was more than once reduced by fever to a state of extreme exhaustion; but up to this time the strength of his const.i.tution enabled him to triumph over the attacks of disease, and the energy of his mind was so great, that the first days of convalescence found him again as actively employed as ever.

"On his return to Calcutta in August 1841, after visiting Simla and the Nerbudda, he was appointed to the medical duties at Malacca: but Dr.

Wallich having proceeded to the Cape for the re-establishment of his health, Mr. Griffith was recalled in August 1842 to take, during his absence, the superintendence of the Botanic Garden near Calcutta, in conjunction with which he also discharged the duties of Botanical Professor in the Medical College to the great advantage of the students.

Towards the end of 1844 Dr. Wallich resumed his functions at the Botanic Garden. In September Mr. Griffith married Miss Henderson, the sister of the wife of his brother, Captain Griffith, and on the 11th of December he quitted Calcutta to return to Malacca, where he arrived on the 9th of January in the present year. On the 31st of the same month he was attacked by hepat.i.tis, and notwithstanding every attention on the part of the medical officer who had officiated during his absence, and who fortunately still remained, he gradually sunk under the attack, which terminated fatally on the 9th of February. "His const.i.tution," says his attached friend, Mr. MacClelland, in a letter to Dr. Horsfield, "seemed for the last two or three years greatly shattered, his energies alone remaining unchanged. Exposure during his former journeys and travels laid the seeds of his fatal malady in his const.i.tution, while his anxiety about his pursuits and his zeal increased. He became care-worn and haggard in his looks, often complaining of anomalous symptoms, marked by an extreme rapidity of pulse, in consequence of which he had left off wine for some years past, and was obliged to observe great care and attention in his diet. In Affghanistan he was very nearly carried off by fever, to which he had been subject in his former travels in a.s.sam. No government ever had a more devoted or zealous servant, and I impute much of the evil consequences to his health to his attempting more than the means at his disposal enabled him to accomplish with justice to himself."

"The most important of Mr. Griffith's published memoirs are contained in the Transactions of the Linnaean Society. Previous to starting on his mission to a.s.sam, he communicated to the Society the first two of a series of valuable papers on the development of the vegetable ovulum in _Santalum_, _Loranthus_, _Visc.u.m_, and some other plants, the anomalous structure of which appeared calculated to throw light on this still obscure and difficult subject. These papers are ent.i.tled as follows:--

1. On the Ovulum of _Santalum alb.u.m_. Linn. Trans. xviii. p. 57.

2. Notes on the Development of the Ovulum of _Loranthus_ and _Visc.u.m_; and on the mode of Parasitism of these two genera. Linn. Trans. xviii.

p. 71.

3. On the Ovulum of _Santalum_, _Osyris_, _Loranthus_ and _Visc.u.m_.

Linn. Trans. xix. p. 171.

"Another memoir, or rather series of memoirs, "On the Root-Parasites, referred by authors to _Rhizantheae_, and on various plants related to them," occupies the first place in the Part of our Transactions which is now in the press, with the exception of the portion relating to _Balanoph.o.r.eae_, unavoidably deferred to the next following Part. In this memoir, as in those which preceded it, Mr. Griffith deals with some of the most obscure and difficult questions of vegetable physiology, on which his minute and elaborate researches into the singularly anomalous structure of the curious plants referred to will be found to have thrown much new and valuable light.

"In India, on his return from his a.s.samese journey, he published in the 'Transactions of the Agricultural Society of Calcutta,' a 'Report on the Tea-plant of Upper a.s.sam,' which, although for reasons stated avowedly incomplete, contains a large amount of useful information on a subject which was then considered of great practical importance. He also published in the 'Asiatic Researches,' in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' and in the 'Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta,' numerous valuable botanical papers; but the most important of his Indian publications are contained in the 'Calcutta Journal of Natural History,' edited jointly by Mr. MacClelland and himself. Of these it may be sufficient at present to refer to his memoir "On _Azolla_ and _Salvinia_," two very remarkable plants which he has most elaborately ill.u.s.trated, and in relation to which he has entered into some very curious speculations; and his still unfinished monograph of "The Palms of British India," which promises to be a highly important contribution to our knowledge of a group hitherto almost a sealed book to European Botanists.

"But the great object of his life, that for which all his other labours were but a preparation, was the publication of a General Scientific Flora of India, a task of immense extent, labour and importance. To the acquisition of materials for this task, in the shape of collections, dissections, drawings and descriptions, made under the most favourable circ.u.mstances, he had devoted twelve years of unremitted exertion. His own collections, (not including those formed in Cabool and the neighbouring countries) he estimated at 2500 species from the Khasiya Hills, 2000 from the Tena.s.serim provinces, 1000 from the province of a.s.sam, 1200 from the Himalaya range in the Mishmee country, 1700 from the same great range in the country of Bootan, 1000 from the neighbourhood of Calcutta, and 1200 from the Naga Hills at the extreme east of Upper a.s.sam, from the valley of Hookhoong, the district of Mogam, and from the tract of the Irrawadi between Mogam and Ava. Even after making large deductions from the sum-total of these numbers on account of the forms common to two or more of the collections, the amount of materials thus brought together by one man must be regarded as enormous. The time was approaching when he believed that he could render these vast collections subservient to the great end which he had in view. He had some time since issued an invitation to many eminent botanists in Europe to co-operate with him in the elaboration of particular families; and he purposed after a few years' additional residence in India to return to England with all his materials, and to occupy himself in giving to the world the results of his unwearied labours. But this purpose was not destined to be fulfilled, his collections have pa.s.sed by his directions into the hands of the East India Company, and there can be no doubt, from the well-known liberality of the Directors, which this Society in particular has so often experienced, that they will be so disposed of by that enlightened body as to fulfil at once the demands of science and the last wishes of the faithful and devoted servant by whom they were formed.

It is hoped too, that the most important of his unpublished materials, both in drawings and ma.n.u.scripts, will be given to the world in a manner worthy of the author and of the rank in science which he filled."--_Proceedings of the Linnaean Society_, No. xxv, 1845.

To the foregoing brief sketch which was read before the Linnaean Society at the Anniversary Meeting 24th May 1845, it is scarcely necessary to make any addition. It is worthy of remark however, as showing how talents sometimes run in families, that Mr. Griffith was great grandson of Jeremiah Meyer, Historical Painter to George the Second, and one of the founders of the Royal Academy. It is also but fair to state on the present occasion, that he was not himself the only member of the family who would appear to have inherited something of his grandfather's peculiar art, as we owe the transfer of the landscapes to stone, which add so much to the appearance of the following volume, to the talent and kindness of his sister.

It may perhaps be acceptable in this place to afford a few extracts from the private letters of Mr. Griffith, especially those in which he adverts with a liberality of feeling to his contemporaries, no less honourable to himself than to the persons mentioned.

The following notes addressed to his uncle, at various periods, exhibit the sentiments with which he regarded the late Mr. Bauer not merely as an artist, but original observer.

_From letters of Mr. GRIFFITH, to Mr. MEYER_.

_Mergui_: _January 17th_, 1835.

"My last accounts of Mr. Bauer state him to have been in excellent health: he had just completed some more of his unrivalled drawings."

_Suddya_: _December 30th_, 1836.

"Pray give the compliments of the season to Mr. Bauer, to whom I look up with the greatest admiration: what a pity it is for science that such a life as his is not renewable _ad libitum_. Tell him that I have a beautiful new genus allied to Rafflesia, the flowers of which are about a span across, it is dioecious and icosandrous, and has an abominable smell. How I look back occasionally on my frequent and delightful visits to Kew."

To MRS. H---.

_Serampore_, _Calcutta_: _July 22nd_, 1841.

"I was aware of the departure of Mr. Bauer through the _Athenaeum_, in which an excellent notice of him appeared. He certainly was a man to whom I looked up with constant admiration: he was incomparable in several respects, and I am happy to find, that his death was so characteristic of his most inoffensive and meritorious life. It is also very pleasing to me to find that he continued to think well of me. How I should have been able to delight him had he lived a few years longer."

_Calcutta_: _June_, 1843.

"Poor Mr. Bauer, we never shall see his like again, I have seen but few notices of his life, which a.s.suredly is worthy of study. There is not a place I shall visit with better feelings than Kew, it has so many pleasant a.s.sociations even from my school-days."

_Calcutta_: _December 31st_, 1843.

"Mr. Bauer is not half appreciated yet; he is considered a very great artist, but what is that to what he was? But he did not fight for his own hand, though he worked hard enough in all conscience. Mr. Bauer in fact preceded all in the train of discovery: he saw in 1797, what others did not see till 30 years after. For instance, the elongation of the pollens' inner membrane into a tube, the first step towards the _complete_ knowledge we now have of vegetable embryogeny. Unfortunately, Mr. Bauer drew, but did not write, and when I recall to mind a remark of Mr. Brown, that it was a disadvantage to be able to draw, I always fancy he had Bauer in his mind's eye; for had he been a writer and not a drawer, before 1800, in great probability we should have known nearly as much of embryogeny as we do now. But he shut his portfolio, and folks went on believing the old fovivillose doctrine and bursting of the pollen, which, his observations of the pollens' inner membrane, would have destroyed at once. Then with regard to Orchideae and Asclepiadeae, he was equally in advance: it would be a rich treat if some one would come forward and publish a selection from his drawings, without a word of letterpress."

_Calcutta_: _February 11th_, 1844.

"Mr. Bauer's light is not yet set on the hill. Really when I look back at his works I am lost in admiration, and always regret that he worked more for others than for himself, and that he did not use his pen as freely as he did his brush. When, in the name of all that is generous, will great men think that true greatness consist in endeavouring to make others more prominent than themselves?"

For some years before his death, Mr. Griffith would appear to have had a presentiment that he would not be spared to complete the description of all his collections. On one occasion, when enumerating those who might contribute most efficiently to this object, in the event of its not being permitted to himself, he writes:--

"I cannot however refrain from paying my tribute of respect to Mr. George Bentham, the most industrious, perspicuous, and philosophical Botanist who has systematically contributed to lessen the difficulties under which Indian Botanists have generally suffered.

"There are a few others from whom the sincerity of friends.h.i.+p fully warrants me in expecting every possible a.s.sistance: of these Dr. Wight is already well known, and others are rising rapidly to fill, I hope, the highest Botanical stations when these shall have been vacated by the leviathans who now occupy them. Let not the cynic accuse me of partiality when I mention the names of William Valentine, of Decaisne, and C. M. Lemann."

He also delighted to speak and write in terms of the warmest regard of those to whom he was indebted for facilities in his pursuits. To Lord Auckland he invariably alluded in terms of the deepest grat.i.tude--"Under his Lords.h.i.+p's patronage" he remarks on one occasion, "I have received such advantages as make me ashamed of the little I have done, and which are constantly holding up before me my deficiencies in many branches of enquiry connected with the physiology and distribution of plants."

The following letters are quoted chiefly for the additional information they afford on the subject of his travels and pursuits. His letters to Botanists would of course be more important and interesting.