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Letter from George Forrest, China Inland Mission, Talifu [Dali], to Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 20 March 1906.
Forrest writes to enclose ‘a short account of our late journey up the Salwin; also 30 photos.’ Hopes consignments of plants arrive safely.
Letter has been badly fire damaged with some loss, including to text.

Letter from George Forrest, China Inland Mission, Talifu [Dali], to Professor Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 27 March 1906.
Forrest writes expressing worry at a lack of communication from Balfour and hopes he has not offended him. Forrest thanks Balfour for the camera and all his kindness and encloses more photographs. Asks if the plants which he sent before leaving Tsekou [Cigu], and those collected during his escape from the lamas, have arrived. Asks that additional items be sent via Lao Kai, Tonkin, as there is parcel post between Tonkin and China, but not between Burma and China. Forrest has not heard from Mr Bulley for nearly 4 months and needs to know if his seeds have been of value before risking his life again.
Plants referenced: Meconopsis; Rhododendron
Letter has been badly fire damaged with some loss, including of text.

Letter from George Forrest, China Inland Mission, Talifu [Dali], to Professor Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 15 April 1906.
Forrest writes to say he is about to go north to Lichiangfu [Lijiang] and the big bend of the Yangtze to scour the range there and work the peak up to the limit of the snow. If he can find species he saw on his way down from [Tse]kou [Cigu] in July-August he may spend the whole season there but more likely he will trek north to the [Chu]ng Tien plateau or around [Tse]kou. Means to run no risks but will do his best. Fears he has failed to satisfy Mr Bulley. Notes that Balfour has named a species of corydalis with yellow flowers after him.
Plants referenced: Corydalis; Rubus
Letter badly fire damaged with some loss including of text.

Letter from George Forrest, China Inland Mission, Talifu [Dali], to Professor Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 17 April 1906.
Forrest writes to request the identification of two species of rhododendron described in detail. He has engaged two indigenous collectors to work the Tsan Shan [Cang Shan] range west of Talifu during his absence in the north. He hopes they will obtain 2,000 species.
Plants referenced: Orchid; Rhododendron
Letter has been fire damaged with some loss, including of text.

Letter from George Forrest, China Inland Misison, Talifu [Dali], to Professor Isaac Bayley Balfour M.D., 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 01 September 1906.
Forrest writes to thank Balfour for applying to the F:O [Foreign Office] for protection and travel facilities for him. Consuls Ottewill and Wilkinson and other officials have already offered help. Forrest has suffered a period of ill health culminating in high fever and loss of consciousness. He is now recovering and hopes to return to the Lichiang [Lijiang] range [Yulong Xue Shan] where his three best collectors have continued work in his absence. Hopes to bring home with him about 3,000 species, mostly plants from an altitude of 9-15,000 feet.
Letter has been fire damaged with some loss, including of text; handle with care.

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, 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.