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St Helena 19th September 1811
To the Right Honorable Sir Joseph Banks K B
President of the Royal Society
Sir
Having lately discovered that Pineaster trees raised at St. Helena, from English seed, yield a timber far superior to any of the Pine species I have ever seen, or heard of, and conceiving that their rapid growth, and the very extraordinary change which has been effected in the appearance and texture of Fir timber, are circumstances deserving the attention of those who are accustomed to contemplate the causes and effects in Nature, I beg leave to present, for your inspection, a specimen of the Fir timber of this island.
Of the tree from which this specimen was taken, I have published a short account in page 17 of the inclosed St Helena Register: but, after I had sent it to the press, I perceived I had been led into a mistake in naming it "Scotch Fir"; for upon examination, and comparing its branches, leaves, cones, and seed, with the descriptions of the various species of Pine, they seem to me, in every respect, to accord with those of the Pineaster - Pinus folüs geminis crascius culus glabris, conis pyramidatus acutis.
In order, however, to be further satisfied on this matter, I have sent by the present conveyance to sir Hugh Inglis, a twig and cones of the trees in question - together with some seeds of the very tree from which the Specimen of wood was