Red, Blue, and White, Lotus of Hindostan

James Forbes arrived in India in 1766 as a junior clerk or bookkeeper for the East India Company. During his seventeen years in the country, Forbes travelled extensively across western India and carefully documented the varied flora and fauna he encountered. While at Bombay (Mumbai), he outlined the topography of the city and its climate, from favourable conditions for sowing rice and grains to fertile soils for vegetation. He elaborates on plants (coconut trees), animals (jackals, squirrels, hedgehogs), birds (vultures, kites, hawks), and fish (pomfret, bumbalo or Bombay duck) indigenous to the city and its shores in a few chapters.