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Londn: Aprill 9th, 1765
I have the
pleasure to inform my Good Friend that my Repeated Solicitations have
not been in Vain for this Day I received certain Intelligence from our
Gracious King that He had appointed thee His Botanist with a salary of
Fifty pounds a Year & in pursuance thereof I received thy first
half years payment of they Salary, Being Twenty five pounds to Lady Day
last-- which I have carried to thy Account.
Now Dear John-- thy Wishes are in some Degree
Accomplished to Range over Georgia & the Floridas as this is a
great Work, & must be accomplished by Degrees it must be Left to thy
own Judgment how to proceed
I hope by this Packet or by Next to procure
Letters of Recommendation to the Governors of East & West Florida;
because Either from them or by the aid of our Friend Lamboll seeds &
specimens may be sent directly to Mee for the King
It is a great Work but thou must contract It
& not Hurry but take time to make observations onthe soil, the
Country, or to gather Specimens of plants, fossills, Ores &c., where
they can conveniently be done, & not too remote for Conveyance,
Either to Charles Town, St. Augustine, or Pensacola & to gett a
Leather Cover to the size of the paper to secure the Specimens from Wett
& Leather bags for to secure the seeds from the rain
As for Living plants it will be Impossible
unless they grow not far from the sea port
Now as thou knows my love for Natural History I
Desire thou will provide thy self with Little flat Boxes fitt for the
pocket & with Pins, that if thou sees any species of Insects to have
some Contrivance to Catch them, such as all sorts of Beetles, Bees,
Wasps, Locusts (that is Grasshoppers) for the Cicadas that you call
Locusts, I have Enough Butter Flies & Moths are too Difficult
to Manage-- pray Look out for all sorts of Land Snails & River
Shells one, 2 or 3 of a sort is Enough, & any other production that
I may see the Wonderful Creatures of this new World--a Many of these may
be stuck thick together in a little Box
Being Like to be So long & so Remote from
home I don't know what will be done about Collecting Seeds for the
Boxes the last came all in good Order but thy Correspondents wants
New Things, I have still no Orders
Whether it will not be better to go by sea to
Carolina takeing thy son or a servant with thee & there hire horses
for the Expedition, then takeing so long a Journey by Land over &
over again without meeting with anything new this must be
submitted to thy better Judgment and Experience to Determine--for thy
health and preservation thou has
the best wishes of thy sincere Friend
P. Collinson
About a Month agon I advis'd my Friend John of
the Kings Intention by a Pennsylvania ship & New York ship
At the same time that thou art collecting seeds
for the King where thou finds plenty thou may think on Mee & thy
other Correspondents---Lord Kildare Desires Two Boxes of seeeeds may be
sent to Him at Dublin A Duplicate is sent by Capt Friend or
Carton Letters of recommendation are not Yett Come &
they are uncertain when they will so do not delay for them
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