Mark Catesby: About Me and My Book

I was interested in plants and nature at a young age, even though I lived too far from London to study the subject in much detail. I was so curious about the subject that I decided I wanted to learn about the animals and plants of other countries as well as those of England. I decided to go to Virginia because I had relatives there. I arrived in Virginia on April 23, 1712, and spent seven years there.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t work much on my study of the nature of the country, though I did send some plant specimens and tubs of soil to Mr. Dale of Braintree in Essex, a skilled apothecary and botanist. I also sent him some observations of the country, which he shared with the late William Sherard, one of the most famous botanists of the age.

I met Mr. Sherard when I returned to England in 1719, and he advised me to take on this current project.

I left England again in 1722, headed for Carolina. Though Carolina has been inhabited by English above an age past, and though it is a country with great fertility and biodiversity, little is known about its natural products beyond what is related to commerce, such as rice, pitch, and tar.

I arrived in Carolina on the 23^rd of May 1722, after a pleasant though not a short passage. During our voyage we were frequently entertained with diversions not uncommon during crossing the Atlantic Ocean – catching sharks, striking porpoises, dolphins, bonitos, albacores, and other fish – and we feasted on the last three whenever we caught them. The sailors even liked the flesh of sharks and porpoises after they’d eaten nothing but salt meats for a long time. We liked to watch the dolphins chasing flying fish, which would eventually get tired – and their wings would dry up – and they’d fall into the dolphins’ mouths, or get grabbed by birds in the air.

The most remarkable sight was an owl that appeared hovering over our ship midway between Africa and America, at a latitude of 26 degrees north. These birds have short wings and are not capable of long flights – boys like to run them down after the second or third flight. This owl made some attempts to rest and then disappeared. The same day – March 22 – a hawk with white head, breast, and belly appeared, and the next day some swallows, though none tried to land on the ship. Now, hawks and swallows can fly a long way, but that owl is surprising!

When I arrived at Charles Town, I was received by General Nicholson, governor of the province. He and the other gentleman of the country were hospitable and generous to me and greatly facilitated my work.

I found that Carolina had even more animals and plants than Virginia. The inhabited parts of Carolina extend west of the sea about 60 miles, and almost the whole length of the coast, with is a level, low country. I spent my first year exploring these parts, collecting and describing the animals and plants. I then went to the upper, uninhabited parts of the country, and continued at and about Fort Moore, a small fortress on the banks of the Savannah River. This river runs from there about 300 miles to the sea, and is about the same distance from its source in the mountains.

I was delighted to discover that the nature in these upper parts was different, and I found an abundance of things not to be seen in the low country. This encouraged me to take several trips with Indians higher up the rivers, toward the mountains. I found both new plants and delightful views, as well as the diversion of hunting buffalo, bears, panthers, and other wild beasts.

On these excursions I employed an Indian to carry my box, in which, besides paper and materials for painting, I put dried specimens of plants, seeds, etc., as I gathered them. I am much indebted to the hospitality and assistance of these friendly Indians. I subsisted on what they shot, and at the approach of rain they would immediately build a bark hut to keep me and my cargo from getting wet.

With plants, I was principally interested in forest trees and shrubs, showing their uses for building, food, agriculture, food, and medicine. I was also interested in plants that would survive in our English climate. I’ve been growing some of these at Mr. Bacon’s in Hoxton, and many have withstood several winters without protection.

I focused on birds because there are more of them than any other animals, and they have beautiful colors, and they most often have relationships with the plants on which they feed and frequent. I did this instead of promiscuously describing insects and other animals, which would have forced me to omit some birds; as it is, I think I covered most of them.

The beasts are not very different from those in the old world. I’ve described the ones that are, except for those described by other authors.

Of snakes, I believe very few have escaped me. I showed my sketches to several of the most intelligent people, and many of them confessed not to having seen them. None said they had seen any other kinds.

For fish, I only described five or six from Carolina, leaving the rest for the Bahamas, which don’t have many quadrupeds of birds. Though I’d often been told that these fish were very remarkable, I was still surprised to see how lavishly nature had adorned them with marks and colors.

As for insects, these countries abound in numerous kinds, but I was not able to describe a great number for the reasons I’ve already given.

I spent almost three years in Carolina and the adjacent parts, which the Spanish call Florida – particularly the province recently named Georgia. Then I went to Providence, one of the Bahama Islands, at the invitation of Governor Charles Phinney, who showed me much hospitality and kindness. From there I visited many of the adjacent islands, particularly Eleuthera, Andros, Abacos, and other neighboring islands. Though these rocky islands produce many fine plants, which I have described in this book, I was mainly interested in the fishes, few of which had previously been described by any author.

Both in Carolina and on these islands I made successive collections of dried plants and seeds, and in these islands I collected many marine objects such as shells, corallines, fruitices marini, sponges, astroites, etc. These I sent to my curious friends, most particularly (as I had the greatest obligations) to that great naturalist and promoter of science Sir Hans Sloane, Bar., to whose goodness I attribute much of the success I had in this undertaking.

I wasn’t trained as a painter, and I hope you will excuse my faults in perspective. In any case, I believe that paintings done in a flat but exact manner might serve the purpose of natural history better than a bolder, more painter-like style. I drew the plants when they were fresh and just gathered. Most of the animals I painted while they were alive (except a very few), and gave them the gestures peculiar to them. Where possible I depicted the birds with the plants on which they fed or had any relation to. Fish that do not retain their colors out of water I painted at different times, having a succession of them procured while the earliest lost their colors (though of course I couldn’t do this for all fish, some of which I saw only one or two). Reptiles will live for many months without food, so I had no difficulty painting them while living.

When I returned from America in 1726, I had the satisfaction of having my labors approved of. I was honored with the advice of several of my sponsors, who thought my images worth publishing but believed that the expense of engraving them would be too high. So I changed my original plan, which had been to have them done in Paris or Amsterdam. Instead, I studied with the inimitable painter Joseph Goupy, and learned how to etch. Unlike most engravers I did not use cross-hatching, and instead depicted the lines of the feathers – which is more laborious and I hope more accurate.

Images of animals and plants with their proper colors are much more informative than the most exact descriptions. For that reason, I have kept my descriptions short, but I hope sufficient to avoid confusion.

I have given the plants their English and Indian names. Dr. Sherard helped with the Latin names.

Very few of the birds have native names, except for a few with Indian names, so I’ve named them after European birds in the same genera, with additional epithets to distinguish them. The males of most birds are more elegantly colored than females, so I have generally depicted only the cocks and added a short description of hens where they differ from cocks.

For paints, especially greens, I used those that most resembled nature and were durable. But I must point out that plants have different colors at different times of the year. In the spring the woods and all plants in general are more yellow and bright; as the summer advances the greens grow deeper, and nearer their fall they are of a darker and dirty color. So any difference in color between a painting and a real plant may be due to this cause.