Incomplete copy of a letter received by Banks from ThomasDancer, 28 March 1793 (Series 57.03) - No. 0001

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(Copy)                                                  Botanical Gardens
                                                             Jamaica

Sir
     I had the Honour to acquaint You some time ago that I had receiv'd Orders from a committee of the House of Assembly of this Island, to get a Collection of Plants for His Majesty's Gardens at Kew to be in Readiness for Captain Bligh on his Arrival here from the South Seas -  Captain Bligh having arriv'd with the Bread Fruit Trees, much sooner than was generally expected and the time fix'd for his Stay in this Island being much very shorter  it has not been in my Power to execute the Orders given me in the Manner I could have wish'd, but I have got together as ample & various a Collection as the Time & other Circumstances would allow. I have made the Catalogues formerly sent out and the Hortus Kervensis my chief Guides in the Business, but there are a great many Plants in the Collection not specified in those Catalogues & which are nevertheless enumerated in the Kew