Haenke’s 1 account of his journey from Manila to Bangui, near Cape Bojeador

On 14 April I disembarked in Manila Bay even before the Descubierta, to which I had been assigned, had anchored. That same day I made the necessary preparations in the capital and on the following day I set out in a panga for Bulacan, Malolos ² and Arayat, to continue my journey more quickly, as far as possible, by way of the estuaries or the small river tributaries. ³ On this part of the journey we made a collection of the species of trees and bushes which are common in the tidal zone of the estuaries along the coast of this island. ⁴ We were now well into the dry season and therefore the approach of the rainy season only allowed me time to attend to the plant kingdom, of which the extraordinary abundance of species produced by nature in the various terrains studied would provide a lifetime’s work for the most diligent and practised of botanists.