SIR JOHN KIRK’S FIELD DRAWINGS AT KEW

Bernard Verdcourt

A great deal has been written about Sir John Kirk (1832-1922) who accompanied David Livingstone on his Zambesi Expedition and later became an important diplomat in Zanzibar. There he did much to influence the Arab rulers to abandon the slave trade and successfully (at least until 1885) strived to maintain the British presence in East Africa (often much against the inclination of the government back home) and combat that ofother European powers. He was on hand at an important time to be a host to the numerous explorers who were then pouring into Africa.

H.H. Johnston (1886, Chapter 11) has left us a delightful account of Sir John in Zanzibar entitled ‘Sir John Kirk at home’. It is not my intention to give any biographical details since they are documented at great length and freely available, but to mention one facet on which barely any comment has been made. I briefly referred to Kirk’s drawings (Verdcourt, 1984) in a short account dealing with Sir John as a collector of non-marine molluscs and Daniel Oliver (1877) mentions them in the preface to the Flora of Tropical Africa. Kirk collected many hundreds of plant specimens in eastern Africa and some are accompanied by interesting morphological and biological notes made in the field. Few collectors at that date made any notes with the notable exception of Dr Friedrich Welwitsch (1806-1872) who was exemplary in this respect. Apart from notes, Kirk also made pencil drawings and coloured sketches in the field, frequently on the reverse of the paper used for the notes. I t is true these are not finished masterpieces but they greatly added to the value of his specimens, which were themselves mostly of good quality. Although no sys- tematic search has been made, it is known that some numbers of these drawings must exist scattered through the Kew Herbarium mostly attached to the original specimens which they depict before they were dried. These drawings have scarcely been mentioned in the literature but presumably often helped workers on the Flora of Tropical Africa last century when Kirk’s material was sometimes the only rep- resentative of the species being dealt with. Kirk, in common with many early travellers, made sketches of striking geographical fea- tures. Foskett (1964, opp. 148) reproduces a water-colour sketch of the Kebrabasa Gorge. Sir John was also a keen early photographer and took photographs during the Zambesi Expedition, which must

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have been exceedingly difficult under the conditions prevailing 130 years ago in Mozambique. I have not seen any close-ups of plants but he took many of baobabs and doum palms, some of which have been reproduced in various works about him.

The illustrations published here for the first time are all of Rubiaceae noted whilst I was writing up that family for the Flora <am besiaca.

Gardenia ternifilia Schum. & Thonn. var. goetzei (Stapf & Hutch.) Verdc. was painted at Sena [Senna] on 11 June 1859 on which date his diary contains ‘Ashore in the fore noon, collecting plants and in the afternoon working them up’. Vangueria infausta Burchell, a

Gardenia tcdol ia . Coloured sketch painted in the field in Mozambique during the Livingstone Zambesi Expedition, in June 1859.

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Paederia bojerana subsp. foetens. Coloured sketch painted in March 1859.

Paederia boje- subsp. foetens. Pencil sketch, March 1859.

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drawing of his specimen 174, was done on 25 Jan. 1860 ‘A long walk yesterday, no game and few plants’. Sometimes, if a plant was only in one stage he would return later to obtain another. At Kongone (a mouth of the Zambesi river) on 2 March 1860, he drew the fruit of Catunaregam spinosa (Thunb.) Tirvengadum (specimen 200) and returned on 25 Jan. 1861 to draw the flower (specimen 330) specifically labelling it as ‘the flower of ZOO’. There is no diary entry for either of these exact dates but on 3 March 1860 ‘During the rains, our house took in water and wet everything, papers, clothes etc. and the storehouse with the herbarium’ and on 6 March ‘Fearful noise of mosquitoes, no peace by day or night.’ The earliest illustrations reproduced here are of the flowers and fruit (specimens 57 and 67) of Paedena bojerana (A. Rich.) Drake subsp. foetens (Hiern) Verdc. done on 17 March 1859 between Lupata and Sena. The diary entry shows that apart from the scientific value the study of plants was a very necessary mental exercise for Kirk. ‘But of all miseries the worst is that of being alone in the cabin for four months [presumably the cabin of the unsuccessful paddle steamer Ma Robert but the entry is obscure since Kirk and Livingstone were on an expedition to the Shire at about this time] with millions of cockroaches and not a single companion to speak of, if I don’t work at Botany like mad, in desperation’ [sic].

I hope that other workers on the Flora &mbesiaca will make a note of drawings they find. Possibly someone may have time to attempt a catalogue of these neglected treasures from the hand of yet another brilliant Victorian.

REFERENCES

Foskett, R. (ed.). ( 1964). The zambesi Doctors. David Livingstone’s letters toJohn

Foskett, R. (ed.). (1965). Thezambesijournal andlettersofDrJohn Kirk. 2 vols.,

Johnston, H.H. (1886). The Kilima-njaro Expedition. London. Oliver, D. (ed.). (1868). Flora of Tropical Africa. Vol. 1. London. Verdcourt, B. (1 984). Collectors in East Africa - 1 1. J. Kirk. Sir John Kirk

Kirk 185g1872. Edinburgh.

Edinburgh & London.

( 1832- 1922). Conchologists’ Newsletter 92: 2 15-2 18.

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