Peter Forsskål is writing from Mocca in Yemen. He wrote from here on 3 May, and the letter was sent on an English ship bound for Gedda. In that letter he told Linnaeus how badly he and his company were received. People thought that they were wizards and drug dealers as they brought snakes in alcohol, marine species etc. Now they know better. Forsskål has sent letters from Lakája [Lohajae] and, in April, from Betelfaki. From Lakéja he sent the seeds of 30 species. He arrived in Yemen on 30 December. Since then he has observed more than 600 species in Yemen, a quite mountainous country, not greater than the half of Portugal. Forsskål intends to visit Sábr, one of the most famous mountains, or alps, as he calls them. Forsskål does not know yet if they will get permission to visit Sánáa, the King’s residence. If they are welcome, they will prolong their stay, otherwise they will move to Bassora or Surat in 2-3 months.
Sofar, Forsskål has been the healthiest of all the travelling companions. Forsskål sends his best wishes to his friends and to his parents [Johannes Forsskål], and if they are not alive [his mother, Margareta Forsskål had died already in 1735], to his brothers [Johan Christian Forskåhl had, however, died already in 1756, and Jonas Gustaf Forsskål].
Forsskål will appreciate it if Linnaeus answers his letters; he can see that many are lost on the way. There is none that he writes so often to and with so much pleasure.
P.S. This letter will be sent on an English ship bound for Gedda. Linnaeus can send his letters to Livorno to be forwarded to Alexandria (Linnaeus’s letter of 2 January 1762 arrived this way)[this letter has not come down to us], and to Constantinople for letters to Bassora, so that he somehow gets to hear something from home.