Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander will soon be expected back from Iceland. Berlin, however, did not go with them. He shall accompany a young English Gentleman to Africa to collect natural-history specimens. John Fothergill is a well-known practitioner and is one of the gentlemen, who shall pay for the voyage. William Pitcairn has also been generous towards Berlin, someting he thinks depneds of Fothergill’s opinion of Berlin. If Berlin can not get the costs for the expedition covered, he shall return to Sweden.
Linnaeus’s letter to John Millerhas made a good impression, and Linnaeus can be certain that Miller will send him samples of all new species found. Knight, at whom Berlin is staying, has read through his work and the descriptions.
Miller’s two sons [Berlin means the sons of Phlip Miller] are with Banks and Solander, and have been engaged for the South Sea voyage.
Finally, Berlin hopes that his good health will follow him to Africa.
P.S. Berlin presumes that Linnaeus would not mind the enclosure of a letter to the Curator of the Undergraduates’ Association, as that probably will be the safest way to send his, maybe last, letter to his parents. Berlin hopes that Linnaeus doesn’t mind that Berlin, on the request of Miller, translated his letter. The next time Linnaeus writes to Miller, Berlin wishes that Linnaeus should give an opinion on Miller’s Ficus and Cucumis, which he intends to put under Momordica. If Miller had had more time, Linnaeus would have received a beautiful sketch of Dionea muscipula.