Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/282

 rambles he was often accompanied by Mr. Miers, a gentleman resident in the country, of whose kindness he ever spoke in the highest terms. His first collection of plants, seeds, and specimens for the herbarium, were drawn chiefly from this quarter. These came home in excellent condition, and proved highly interesting. They contained many new orchids, liliaeæ, palms, &c. He subsequently penetrated into the interior, and spent a considerable time in exploring the diamond regions. He was indefatigable in his mission, and his long and toilsome journeys were often attended with no small adventure, and even peril. Five years—from 1836 till 1841—were passed in Brazil. Before returning home, which he did in the latter year, he paid a parting visit to the Organ mountains, his object in doing so being, as he himself says, in one of his letters, to "make a collection of some of the fine shrubs and herbaceous plants which are to be found principally on the higher levels" of that range, to take home with him in the living state. After penetrating into the interior, he found the difficulty of sending home living plants almost insurmountable; yet he continued to preserve large collections for the herbarium, which, with seeds and such living plants as could endure the inland journey, prior to their long voyage, were sent home as opportunity offered. Some of the Melastomaceæ, as Pleroma Benthamianum and Multiflora may be mentioned among the number as now ornamenting every good collection of hot-house plants; also, many beautiful Franciscas, &c.

Although botany was, of course, his chief pursuit, Gardner had always an eye to what might be of interest in other departments of natural history—hence his collections were swelled with minerals, recent and fossil shells, preserved skins of birds, fishes, &c. He, at the same time, did not neglect his medical acquirements. Throughout his extended journeyings, he carried his surgical instruments along with him, and performed several important operations with entire success, which not only improved his finances, but gained him many friends—thus securing a degree of respect, comfort, and, in some cases, safety, among the native tribes, which only a medical man might expect to enjoy. Amidst his multifarious labours, he kept up his home correspondence with surprising regularity, writing often to Sir William Hooker and Mr. Murray, and occasionally communicating with the more distinguished foreign botanists of the day. Several of his papers and letters were inserted by Sir William in the "Journal of Botany." In one of these, dated Province of Minas, September 3, 1840, he refers to the death of his "generous patron, the Duke of Bedford," in terms which bespeak the deep gratitude by which he was actuated. Nor did he overlook the claims of his own relations to a share in his epistolary attention; and even his juvenile friends, such as Dr. Joseph Hooker, and Mr. Murray's family, were not forgotten.

In 1842, not long after his return, Gardner was elected professor of botany in the Andersonian university, and had prepared a course of lectures; but he did not retain that appointment, seeing, at the time, little prospect of the class being well attended. Meanwhile he occupied himself in arranging the materials of his Brazilian journal, with a view to publication. The work, however, was still incomplete, when, in 1843, he was appointed to Ceylon, as island botanist and superintendent of the botanic garden there, by the colonial government. This situation he owed to the influence of his never-failing friend, Sir William Hooker, who had himself been, some time previously, promoted to the office of director-general of the Royal Gardens at Kew. While in London,