#MB76
1902
Octavo (ca. 20,5x12,5 cm). pp. Brown ink on paper, letterhead of the Mandeville Hotel. Fold marks, otherwise a very good letter.
An interesting letter by British traveller, writer and naturalist Francis Guillemard, written to a fellow colleague, with some noteworthy details about tsama, or citron melon. Tsama is native to the Kalahari Desert of South Africa, where it has been traditionally used as a source of water during dry seasons. Guillemard obviously got acquainted with tsama when serving in South Africa as a doctor during the First Boer War (1880-1881).
“I was most interested in your information that the tsama grows as far south as Graaf-Reinet [Eastern Cape Province, South Africa]: I had no idea it flourished away from the true desert. I must turn up your reference to Livingstone when I get back to Cambridge. I had forgotten that he mentioned it. My boys could tell at once which were bitter and which sweet melons. As you say, our cucumbers are sometimes bitter (I have an idea that both sweet and bitter come off the same plant, but am not sure of this) but the difference of degree in bitterness is astonishing in the tsama. The fruit seems to be either as bitter as gall or quite tasteless”. In the end Guillemard thanks his correspondent “for your kindly criticism of the Marchesa: it is pleasant to get these little appreciatory words”.
Guillemard “travelled widely, visiting Lapland, the Southern African interior, Madeira and the Canaries, South-East Asia and throughout Europe. He was present at the first Boer War, 1881, and also made visits to Cyprus, founding the Cyprus Exploration Fund. He was elected University Reader in Geography, Cambridge, in 1888, and served as Geographical Editor of the Cambridge University Press. His published works include 'The Life of Ferdinand Magellan and the First Circumnavigation of the Globe, 1480-1521' (London, 1890).” (F.H.H. Guillemard/ Janus: Online catalogue of Cambridge archives and manuscripts). In 1882-1884 he participated in a zoological expedition in the yacht Marchesa‚ visiting the Far East, the Philippines, New Guinea and most of the chief islands of the Malay Archipelago. He brought back large zoological collections from the voyage and published “The cruise of the Marchesa” in 1886.
