Forbes, James, 1749–1819, James Forbes letter, Narranseer-Camp, 1775 April 15, copied between 1794 and 1800
- Call Number:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Holdings:
- [Request]
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749–1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Narranseer-Camp, 1775 April 15
- Date:
- copied between 1794 and 1800
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Series:
- Series I: A voyage from England to Bombay with descriptions in Asia, Africa, and South America
- Part of Collection:
- volume 7, page 137-140
- Provenance:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Conditions Governing Access:
- The materials are open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.
- Scope and Content:
- Now at the headquarters for the company excursion in support of Ragobah (Raghunathrao), Forbes provides a short description of the location. The area is full of wildlife and fertile farmland; the former provide Forbes and his companions with plenty of amusement. He notes that the monkeys “are of an extraordinary size, and when sitting on the ground in groups, at a little distance, not easily distinguishable from the poorest of the natives.” Ragobah lives nearby, in a villa Forbes describes in the language of opulence and pleasure. The gardens are not to Forbes’s taste; they’re too artificial, in contrast with English gardens. But he admits that “they must be fastidious indeed who do not enjoy their beauties in the cool of the evening; when the air is impregnated with the fragrance of oranges, limes, tuberoses, champahs, and other sweet-scented plants.” The break of day means the return of the heat. Forbes complains that the heat at Narranseer-Camp “exceeds every thing I have before experienced in the torrid zone, and no constitution could support it if it continued many months.” Morning is the only opportunity for exercise. Forbes hopes for a cooler assignment in the near future, one he expects will arise with the progression of the campaign: though the English have not yet united with Ragobah’s defeated forces, they expect to see them in a few days. At that point, they plan to attack Kairah, a fortified city where the confederate forces have camped. Portions of this text appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>, volume 2, chapter 16.
- Physical Description:
- 4 pages
- Genre:
- Correspondence , Botanical illustrations, Ornithological illustrations, Travel sketches, Maps, Watercolors (paintings), Drawings (visual works), Engravings (prints), and Portraits
- Subject Terms:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819. Descriptive letters and drawingsForbes, James, 1749-1819. Oriental memoirs
- Associated Places:
- EnglandItalyScotlandWales
- Associated People/Groups:
- East India CompanyForbes, James, 1749-1819
- Finding Aid Title:
- James Forbes archive
- Collection PDF:
- https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/11734.pdf
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199709
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199709?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1