Library, Art and Archives blog

Hello, my name is Charlotte and I am the newest member of the Directors' Correspondence team based in the Herbarium, Library, Art and Archive at Kew. Over the past few months, we have been digitising the letters sent from Asia in Kew's Director's Correspondence archive and are finding a few surprises along the way. Such surprises - although highly interesting - are not always pleasant as the descriptions of the 'tanghin ordeal' of Madagascar have shown.

Introducing the 'ordeal plant'

The tanghin or 'ordeal plant' (Cerbera tanghin) was used for centuries in a poison ordeal for the judgement of crimes or accusations of sorcery. Plants of the genus Cerbera all contain a potent toxin known as cerberin which acts by disrupting the heartbeat.  C. tanghin is widely distributed across Madagascar and the kernel of the fruit - which is highly poisonous and a powerful emetic - was used to determine the guilt or innocence of an individual in a crime.

We have recently come across a few letters which describe the ordeal ceremony in all its gruesome detail.  One such letter was written to Sir William Jackson Hooker during his time as Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow by Charles Telfair in 1829 who was living in Mauritius at the time.

Extract of the letter written by Charles Telfair in 1829

Using poisonous plants to detect guilt

The ordeal was used as a means of detecting guilt for crimes such as murder, conspiracy, sorcery or theft. Modifications to the practice were made over the centuries by various Kings but the overall principle remained the same.

In Telfair's account, the poison was prepared by first grinding the kernel of the tanghin nut on a stone to produce a 'soft white mass like grounded almonds' which was mixed with small quantities of banana juice and water. Further accounts written in the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics by James Hastings describe in detail how the accused was forced to swallow whole three pieces of chicken skin, each about an inch square, before a dose of the toxic tanghin concoction was administered.

The presiding official, generally a priest or physician, would take note of the direction in which the accused fell to the ground as this was thought to be indicative of the level of guilt. The accused would then drink copious amounts of rice water or a 'flour-soup' until the stomach contents were rejected. Those that vomited all three pieces of chicken skin intact were declared innocent and were considered to lead a 'charmed life' thereafter. Those that did not vomit inevitably died and those that vomited but did not regurgitate all of the chicken skin were put to death or buried alive.

During the reign of King Radama I, the practice became less common for people and was used on dogs instead. The animals belonging to both the accuser and the accused would undergo the ordeal and the owner of the unfortunate animal that died would be considered guilty.

'Ordeal Plant or Tanghin and Parokeets of Madagascar' by Marianne North

Telfair sent Hooker various drawings and descriptions of C. tanghin and his notes on the ordeal were later published in The Penny cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Vol. VI in 1836. Further gruesome descriptions of the ordeal, which again make reference to Telfair's letter, can be found in The Encyclopaedia of Geography from 1839, written by Hugh Murray and assisted by Sir William Jackson Hooker.

- Charlotte - 

More Information

• All of Kew's Director's Correspondence collection from Latin America is now available to view online for those with access to JSTOR Plant Science and more Asian content is being added all the time.

Hello, my name is Sarah and I am the new Archives Graduate Trainee at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for 2010/11. I am here to introduce myself and to tell you a little about what life is like as a trainee archivist here at Kew.

Before coming here, I studied for a History MA at Oxford Brookes University and my previous archive experience was gained through work experience and volunteering placements. I volunteered weekly with the Middle East Centre Archive, Oxford, and completed various short term work experience placements around Oxford and London in my spare time. I hope to begin studying for the Archives and Records Management postgraduate qualification via distance learning during my year here.

Sarah at work

I became aware of the role through the Archives and Records Association (ARA) list of graduate traineeships and the position at Kew appealed to me in particular because it offers a wide variety of experience and is structured well to compliment pre-entry experience for the archives qualification. As a trainee my main duties include dealing with enquiries and users of the Reading Room, responding to enquiries, identifying and retrieving items for researchers, and managing reprographic orders. I will also be spending time with the Records Administrator in the Registry each week, where I get to experience the work involved in modern records management, opening and closing current records and handling internal enquiries from across the departments at Kew. Throughout the year I will also be undertaking individual projects in cataloguing, preservation and there is also the chance to work on a joint project with the Library Trainee, Eleanor.

Working with the collections

The collections housed by the archives here are really fascinating and of great historical value, so it is a real honour to be able to be part of it and to help people access the material. The archives hold historical records relating to the development and botanical collections of the Gardens and its activities worldwide. I have already made a few exciting discoveries including letters from Darwin himself, and there are some amazing volumes relating to early plant collectors and explorers of the new world, some of which contain extraordinary illustration and sketches.

Letter from Charles Darwin to Joseph Hooker

Since starting as the trainee one month ago, I have also been fortunate through my job to have taken part in a visit with the Museums Libraries and Archives Group (MLAG) and I also attended the Archives Awareness Campaign Conference, which was a great place to meet other archivists who shared their experiences and advice. I am really interested in the different outreach programmes used and the ways archives can get people interested, and I hope to learn more about this throughout my traineeship.

I am really looking forward to discovering more about archives and records management work and completing my projects. The induction programme has been great and as well as meeting lots of lovely people I have learned a lot about the great work that has gone on throughout the Gardens' history.

- Sarah -

The conservation of Marianne North’s paintings has presented a unique opportunity to research the materials that she used. This not only helps with deciding what conservation treatments to use, but also gives us an insight into how Marianne North painted and where she obtained her materials. There are many ways to discover what paints she used. The most accessible source is historical information. This includes writings from the artist herself and from records telling us what was available in her time.

Another step in discovering what paints she used is to look closely at the paints themselves. This can involve taking very small samples of the different colours from a painting. These can then be examined under a microscope or tested with more complex equipment that has been borrowed from forensic science. Whilst Marianne North depicted plants in her paintings, she also used plants in her painting materials. Many of the traditional colours used by artists have been derived from plants. Even with the introduction of synthetic colours in the nineteenth century, when Marianne North was painting, these natural colours were still popular with artists.

Paints from plants

Madder is a bright pink to red colour and is obtained from the madder plant (Rubia tinctorum), through the drying and fermenting of the roots. This colour is still manufactured in this way today and can be seen at the Winsor and Newton factory.
 

 Detail of painting number 76, illuminated in Ultraviolet light.

Madder has been detected in many of Marianne North’s paintings, by a simple method of viewing the surface in Ultraviolet light (see above image). A component that is very specific to this colour reacts to the light, telling us that Madder has been used. Indigo is a deep blue made from pressing the leaves of the indigo plant, Indigofera tinctoria.
 

Flowers of a Dogwood and an Indigo from the Himalayas, Marianne North, painting number: 560

Sap green is made from the juice of Buckthorn berries (Rhamnus cathartica). Other colours are resins extracted from trees and are given names which make suggestions of their origin; Brazilwood, Logwood and Dragon’s blood. These colours are not so easy to detect and in these cases, small samples may need to be taken from the paintings for closer examination. The plants that these colours are derived from can also be found in the Gardens at Kew, a link that Marianne North also intended for her paintings, from viewing cultivated plants in the Gardens, to seeing them depicted in their natural habitats in the gallery.

Learn more at Kew

Links from the plants through to the painting materials can also be made through the collections at Kew, from the living collections in the Gardens to the Economic Botany collection (which holds the raw materials for the colours through to the finished products) to the Marianne North paintings and the extensive botanical art collection, where these colours have been used to depict plants.

Through our continuing research we hope to make some exciting discoveries about Marianne North’s techniques, including which plants can be found in the materials of her paint. Keep a look out for a following blog with the results from our analysis.

The Marianne North Conservation team give free informal talks/demonstrations on the project and Marianne North once a month. The gallery is currently closed while the original paintings are re-hung and some minor work is carried out on the building, therefore the next talk will be held on: 24th September, 2.30pm, at the  Shirley Sherwood Gallery.

- Emma -
 

Further Information

• Find out more about the Marianne North Gallery
  
• Read about Marianne North and her links with Kew

Together with the Herbarium, Kew’s Library, Art & Archives will be taking part in this year’s London Open House  event this coming weekend (18 and 19 September), as it has done for the past few years. This year is different, however, as visitors will have the chance to see the new Reading Room and some of our new storage facilities, opened earlier this year.

The new Reading Room for staff and visitors

As well as being able to see the new wing, visitors will see displays from all three areas of the collections: we will have archive material from the Livingstone/Kirk Zambesi expedition of 1858-1864 and from Frank Kingdon-Ward’s exploration of the Himalayas in the first half of the 20th century. We will be displaying illustrations of plants connected to these areas, such as Meconopsis (the blue poppy), as well as other examples of illustrations and books from our extensive collections. In the oldest part of the complex, we will have a special display about Joseph Hooker, as 2011 will the 100th anniversary of his death.

The botanical artist Rachel Pedder-Smith will be on hand to display and talk about her work and visitors will also have the opportunity to talk to some of the conservators working on Victorian artist Marianne North’s paintings and see her work up close.

So why not come along for this special opportunity to see behind the scenes at Kew's Herbarium, Library, Art & Archives. The department will be open from 10am - 4pm on both this Saturday & Sunday.

- Fiona -

Further Information

• Read about London Open House weekend
• Visit Kew's Library, Art & Archives webpages
• Check out the full Library contact details and visitor information
• Find out more about Marianne North and the Marianne North Gallery Conservation project  

Many of the most interesting letters in the Directors' Correspondence collection come from intrepid botanists and collectors who ventured into little-explored areas in the pursuit of plants and artefacts unknown in the West.

One such man was James Motley.  A civil engineer by profession, he worked for mining companies, first in Labuan and later at Banjarmasin, in Borneo, where he died on 1 May 1859 during the massacre of Europeans at Kalangan at the start of the Banjarmasin war.

The sections of Motley's correspendence with Sir William Jackson Hooker that I found most interesting were those regarding the diverse items of trade he encountered on his journey through the Singapore straits to reach Sumatra.  For example, at a fishing settlement called Kasoo, Motley observed:

"Among the strange articles of trade here I saw a basket full of fat white Annelidae [that's worms!] as thick as the thumb and about a foot long, they are formed in the decayed wood of a Rhizophora sp…after it has laid long in the salt water and fetch a good price among the rich Chinese at Singapore, who consider them a rare delicacy".

 
Extract from Motley's account of his journey to Sumatra, from a letter dated 28th November 1854

Though Motley finds most of the islanders to be engaged in legitimate trade, he expresses concern at stories of their "piratical propensities".  Arriving after dark at a settlement called Sungei Sipagu on the island of Suggi, Motley felt obliged to have his rifle and hunting knife by his side whilst resting on his rattan sleeping mat, as the Suggi people were said to be 'occasional pirates'.  In the morning however he found them engaged not in piracy but in drying agar-agar and pounding dammar resin in preparation for trade.

Agar-agar is a Sargasssum which Motley observed being collected by the women and children of Suggi from a reef  exposed at low tide. Once gathered it is laid out on mats to dry in the sun.  Motley describes it to Hooker but is unable to identify it beyond calling it "an algae".  It is turned into a jelly used to make sweet and savoury dishes.  Already used extensively in China, Motley suggested that it could be successfully exported to Europe in its dried form at an advantage to "the home trade".

Dammar resin is obtained from Dipterocarpaceae, and Motley describes the process by which the powdered resin is made into torches. When very fine it is melted in boiling wood oil and mixed with crumbled rotten wood until it is of a consistency to be formed into batons, these are covered with the leaflets of a stemless palm, Zalacca [Salacca] conferta to form torches with the appearance of gigantic cigars.

On reaching the coast of Sumatra, Motley encountered the 'Orang Laut' or 'Men-of-the-Sea' who spend their entire lives on their boat-homes.  He was impressed to observe their very effective method of fishing which employs a 'balat' - a fishing weir made of bamboo fastened with twisted stems of a Cissus species. Motley was able to obtain a bundle of the fish from the catch by trading with the chief or 'Orang Kaya' who desired, in return, Motley's old pair of trousers, to which he took a great fancy!

A water bottle, made of a gourd, in a woven carrier. Donated to Kew by James Motley, it would once have been carried by the Dyak tribe from Borneo, where Motley resided.

Many of the items Motley collected, and perhaps traded for, are in Kew's Herbarium and Economic Botany Collection.  They include plants used as medicines, dyes, poisons, perfumes and preservatives, as well as items of clothing and domestic utensils made from plant materials. 

- Ginny -

More Information

• We don't yet have an online catalogue for the archive but details of many of Kew's catalogued collections are available through the National Archives Catalogue.
• All of Kew's Latin American Directors' Correspondence is available to view online for those with access to JSTOR plant science and more Asian content is being added all the time.
• Search Kew's Herbarium Catalogue for plant specimens collected and donated by James Motley.