193 



Notes made during the recent Expedition across the Northern Portion 

 of Australia, under the command of Mr. Surveyor Gregory ; by 

 Dr. Er. Mueller, Colonial Botanist of Melbourne, and Botanist to 

 the Expedition. 



{Continued from $ . 173.) 



Sydney Botanic Gardens, March 6th. 1857. 



My dear Sir William,— I have been during the last week engaged in 

 putting the botanical specimens into order which were obtained during 

 the latter part of the North- Australian expedition, and have been able 

 to fill a box with about a thousand specimens, comprising nearly two 

 hundred and fifty species. These will be brought to you by my friend 

 Mr. Elsey, the surgeon and naturalist of the Expedition. He leaves in 

 a few days in the « Alnwick Castle,' and I send this letter by the mail, 

 to apprise you of his arrival. I have copied somewhat more than 

 that part* of the manuscripts which relates to the now transmitted 

 plants {Thalamifioree and part of Calycifiora). This set of papers will 

 also be delivered by Mr. Elsey, and in a month or two another set of 



manuscripts and specimens will follow. 



I regretted, when I commenced arranging the collection, that the 

 schooner ' Messenger,' on board of which my principal botanical trea- 

 sures are, had not arrived, as having the whole of the specimens at 

 once under hand would have simpUfied so much the work. Since then 

 I have anxiously been expecting the schooner's arrival, and from day 

 to day our fears are increasing that some great calamity might have 

 befallen those on board her. The ' Messenger ' left Java in the begin- 

 ning of September, in order to meet us at the Gulf of Carpentaria 

 (Albert Eiver), and no tidings of her have reached, since that period, 

 any place in the South.f Although she is known to be a slow vessel, 

 and although she had to contend with the north-west monsoon on her 

 home voyage, yet we cannot banish our fears for her safety and the 

 lives of our friends in her , moreover the passage through Torres 



Strait is such a dangerous one. 



In my last letters I have given you a brief account of the resu ts, 

 particularly the botanical results, of our exploration, explaining at the 



* This has safely reached our hands through the favour of Mr. Elsey, together 



with a large packet of seeds formed during the J?"^'..^^,,,,, f the total de- 

 t The news of the safety of the Messei, r but anfortunat .y,^ ^ 



VOL. IX. 



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