Series 05.01 : Copy of a letter written by Banks to Comte Louis de Lauraguais, December 1771 - No. 0011

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describ'd [sic] by any Botanical author, 500 fish, as many Birds, & insects Sea & Land innumerable: out of these some considerable economical purposes may be answerd particularly with the fine Clayes of the Otaheitians & the Plant of which the new Zelanders make their Cloth of which we have brought over ye​ seeds. The fine red Colour us'd by the inhabitants of the Islands situated between the tropicks in the South Sea the tinge of which seems to be between that of Scarlet & a pink is made by mixing the juice of the Fruit of a Fig tree suppos'd to be peculiar to those Islands with the juice of the Leaves of the Cordia Sebestena orientalis​. Lenius [Linnaeus].

NB: The fig tree is now describ'd under the name of ​Ficus Tinctoria​ & probably did not escape the researches of so accurate a Botaniste as Mr. de Commerson who sail'd with Mr. Bougainville, is disputed to be.  Quadrupedes we found few & none remarkable but one species totally different from any known kind the full grown of it was as large as Sheep