Letter from George Forrest, China Inland Mission, Talifu [Dali], to Professor Isaac Bayley Balfour M.D., 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 25 September 1906.
Forrest writes enclosing three prints of a species of primula discovered on the Lichiang [Lijiang] range [Yulong Xue Shan], with detailed description of the plant. Photograph IV is of a plant which he cannot place, and V is of a species of cypripedium. Gives detailed descriptions of both. Forrest also encloses some small specimens of primula, saxifrage and delphinium. This season he has secured from 20-30 species of both saxifrage and primula. ‘I could write much on the flowers I have seen and collected this season but I am so weak through my prolonged illness, that I have neither the heart nor the strength to do so. Besides it is such a long time since I received a letter from you, 10 months, that I am led to infer you have lost all interest in my wanderings and collecting, therefore you will pardon me if I make this my last communication before my departure for home.’
Plants referenced: Cypripedium; Delphinium; Pine; Primula; Saxifrage
Photographs referenced: I. Group of primula –Lichiang range; II. Flowering head of primula; III. Mass of primula plants in situ; IV. Unidentified plant; V. Cypripedium?
Letter has been badly fire damaged with some loss, including of text; as it is a large folded letter, there is a photocopy in the binder alongside which should be used to enable reading the text inside.
Letter from George Forrest, Talifu [Dali], Yunnan, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, RBGE, dated 28 October 1904, in which he states he has been to Tzekou [Tsekou; Cigu] in Tibet, on the Mekong; gives itinerary of journey and details of seeds collected, about 100 species, including primulas, three species of androsace but only one gentian. Consignment has gone to Mr Bulley and also 150 or 200 specimens to Prof Balfour. Asks him not to tell Bulley about the specimens which ‘I am collecting for my own pleasure and in my spare time and they are a free gift to you.’
Letter from George Forrest, Talifu [Dali], to Isaac Bayley Balfour, RBGE, dated 08 November 1904, in which Forrest confirms the despatch of 380 plant specimens collected on his recent journey to Tzekou [Cigu]. Next trip will be to the north of the Lichiang [Lijiang] valley, working the range of mountains which cause the Yangtze bend and along the base of an immense glacier on the eastern slope of the Lichiang peak. If this proves unproductive he will go on again to the Chung Tien plateau which he and Litton were the first Europeans to visit. Believes the range forming the Mekong and Salween divide to be exceptionally rich in rhododendrons, azaleas, gentians, primulas and a five foot tall lilium with immense white bloom marked in red and highly perfumed. Specimens have been collected by the missionary fathers at Tzekou who will send bulbs to Balfour and Bulley via consul Litton. Describes journey north into Tibet with Litton, leaving Talifu [Dali] on 29 August, returning 53 days later, having covered around 1000 miles. On being mobbed at the horse fair at Sung Kwei they had to draw their revolvers in defence but had some horses and mules stolen. Gives details of their route to and from Tibet, describing plants and vegetation and a river crossing by sling bridge, illustrated by a sketch. Has felt depressed since returning to Tali, probably a reaction to so much travel and constant exposure to wet conditions and extremes of heat and cold. Regrets that all his photographs were spoiled by dampness and intends to ask Bulley for a supply of photographic plates. Confirms that there is a pine belt in Yunnan and part of Tibet, generally starting at about 9,500 feet and continuing to about 15,000 feet.
Letter from George Forrest, The Consulate, Tengyueh, S.W. Yunnan, China, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland, dated 01 October 1905.
Forrest writes to Balfour to provide a very full account of events at Tsekou [Cigu] from 13 July and his subsequent flight with the two missionary fathers and many Christian Tibetans; [The content of this letter may be deemed especially distressing] Forrest describes delays and deception by the Besse [Headman] of Chamey; the despair of the missionaries and eventual decision by Forrest to strike off alone; the pursuit by lamas; arrival after eight days at a Lissoo village where he was fed tsampa cakes and tea, resulting in stomach problems; further hardships on journey to Yeh Chih but notes the magnificence of the flowers and his hope of returning to ‘the flower garden of the world’; kindness of the Besse of Yeh Chih; news of the brutal murder of Pere Bourdonnec and Pere Dubernard; the journey to Hsia Wei Hsi and of meeting up with Pere Monbeig; description of the Chinese clothing provided for him; eventual arrival in Talifu on 25 August.
The full text of the letter is available at (right click, open link in new tab) https://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/28455 .
The letter has suffered fire damage, with some loss including text.
Letter from George Forrest, The Consulate, Tengyueh, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, dated 10 October 1905.
Forrest writes to inform Balfour that he will leave the next day for a journey up the Salween-Irrawaddy divide and will be out of communication for 6-8 weeks. He has engaged a collector with whom he has left some specimens as they are not yet dry. Forrest encloses ‘the scraps of plants I secured during my flight from Tsekou' and thanks Balfour for his gift of photo plates, paper and material but regrets that the plates and paper have been spoiled owing to the fault of the packer, Mr McBean; 'They were most carelessly packed. Firstly they were packed in a box loosely with seams all open. Then the plates and paper were merely placed in open tobacco tins and to crown all, four pounds of ordinary salt was placed on top. The box was simply dripping inside when it reached me.'
Forrest is sending seeds of meconopsis, corydalis and ?liquine; gives brief descriptions.
Plants referenced: Corydalis; Liquine?; Meconopsis
Letter has been damaged by fire with some loss of text; handle with care.
Letter from George Forrest, The Consulate, Tengyueh, Yunnan, S.W. China to Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, dated 30 December 1905.
In the absence of Mr Litton on business connected with the proposed railway extension from Bhamo to Teng Yueh [Tengchong], Forrest has been left to entertain any passing travellers. These include Mr [Aleister] Crowley of the Alpine Club, his wife and child, and a Frenchman on his way north to buy musk and furs for a Paris firm. Forrest reports that he and Litton had reached latitude 27’ 15” and a quarter degrees covering new ground on their recent trip north along the Salween valley. Forrest has collected about 300 specimens, some of them new species. Of seeds he has only about 100 species and not those he wished most to secure meaning he thinks he will have to return to Tsekou [Cigu] next season ‘as I cannot bear the thought of anyone else, especially a Frenchman securing specimens and seeds of the plants I saw.’ He thanks Balfour for Hooker’s Flora and for numbers of the Linnaean Journal and for all his kindness. Forrest asks again for advice on drying and packing orchids as he now has a large number of pseudo bulbs of what he takes to be a new species and does not know how to deal with them.
Plant referenced: Orchid
Letter is very slightly charred.
Letter from George Forrest, The Consulate, Teng-yueh [Tengchong], S.W. China, to Professor Isaac Bayley Balfour M.D. 'Regius Keeper' Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 06 February 1906.
Forrest writes to say he is sending off 360 sheets of specimens and asks Balfour to name one of the new specimens after the late Mr Litton. The new consul, Mr Ottewill, has arrived from Ichang. Forrest will leave in a week for Tali en route for the north and will attempt to reach that part of the Mekong-Salwin divide west of Yeh-chi and then work north to the lat[itude] of Tsekou, to cover the old ground of his flight.
Letter has been fire damaged with some loss of text.
Letter from George Forrest, The Consulate, Tengyueh [Tengchong], to Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 15 February 1906.
Forrest writes to confirm despatch of 360 specimens and asks Balfour to open them at once to check on their condition.
Letter badly fire damaged with some loss including text.
Letter from George Forrest, The Mission, Tsekou [Cigu], Tibet, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, Regius Keeper, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, dated 28 April 1905.
Forrest writes briefly to let Balfour know he has arrived safely in Tsekou after a 'terribly trying' journey during which he rowed with the people at Chien Chuan cho and then lost a mule in crossing the Wei Hsi; baggage carried by coolies (Lisaws) [Lissoos] through deep snow. Forrest reports news of a revolt by lamas who had raided Batang and Atunze, killing three French missionaries and a number of local Christian converts. Forrest found Tsekou to be practically in a state of siege with daily expectation of attack, there being around 3000 lamas at Atunze and 5000 at Batang. Forrest had secured over 100 species on the way but lost many more through damp.
There is slight burning at the base of the letter.
Letter from George Forrest, Tsekou [Cigu], SE Tibet, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, M.D., 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 27 May 1905.
Forrest writes to say he left Tali [Dali] on 11 April; he provides details of an arduous journey to Tsekou, having his first row with the Chinese in Chien Chuan and an uncomfortable evening conversing with the Yamen. There are difficulties with muleteers at Wei Hsi pass and the loss of a mule which fell 90 or 100 feet, breaking its back and smashing its load of two cases; Forrest was rescued by Lissoos who helped him continue his journey to Wei Hsi Ting. Forrest meets with Pere Bourdonnec of the Catholic Tibetan Mission who warned him that rebel lamas were only three days north of Tsekou. Against his advice Forrest continued to Tsekou, arriving on 28 [April] to news of ‘over 10,000 lamas on the warpath. Of these, 5,000 are at Batang where they have murdered the Chinese amban and a great number of Chinese soldiers. Also the French missionary stationed there, Pere Mussot by name. They destroyed the mission and killed a great number of native Christians, driving the remainder into the hills, where many have perished of exposure and hunger.’ Forrest describes raids on Atuntze, Yarragong and Yerkolo, the death of Pere Soulie and anticipates a battle between the lamas and Chinese troops. Lack of food is the main difficulty in Tsekou; there is a description of the rations, including a curious dish of stewed ferns using the species of common bracken Pteris aquilina:
'One curious dish they have here, and one of which I was very dubious at first, but which now I have got to like immensely is 'stewed ferns'. These are cooked in water with the addition of a little fat. The species used is the common bracken 'Pteris aquilina' which grows abundantly on all the mountains here above a certain elevation. The part used is the young stem and frond just as they are expanding when they are 3-6 inches high. These are boiled for some time in water to extract the bitter principle of the plant and then cooked as I have described. Another dish, but one which I have not yet partaken of, but which I am informed is equally good is composed of the male inflorescence of 'Pinus sylvestris' prepared in a similar manner.'
Forrest is making slow progress with his collecting owing to bad weather, but almost 300 species have already been collected; there are descriptions of forests of rhododendrons and a fine example of Magnolia campbellii.
Plants referenced: Magnolia; Pine; Pteris aquilina; Rhododendron
Letter has been scorched with some loss. Letter has been damaged, particularly page 1, apparently by a plant specimen enclosed in the envelope with the letter.