Obituary : — Mr. George Caley; Sll 



quainted with Dr. Hull and Dr. Withering; and the works of these 

 botanists frequently make mention of him. What was the link of his 

 acquaintance with that munificent patron of science, Sir Joseph Banks, does 

 not appear ; but, about the year 1800, he was sent out by him as a collector 

 to New South Wales, and supported there for ten years at his expense. 

 We have heard that he fairly got his appointment by dint of importunity ; 

 but knowing as we do the excessive modesty of the man, we can only ac- 

 count for this by the habitual intensity with which he regarded his object, 

 which sank all the intermediate steps as unimportant so that he could but 

 attain to the grand one. Certainly, no man was better adapted for such an 

 undertaking : he possessed a robust constitution, was a stranger to silken 

 ease, and had the power of endurance and of suffering privation to a great 

 degree. He knew how to conciliate the natives by an easy and jocular 

 familiarity, and afforded, at all times, to his companions, a fine example of" 

 perseverance. We have heard him say, his spirits never yielded when he 

 had to lead a party through the woods, though they had frequently done so 

 when he was led b}' others; but these were only his physical qualifications. 

 He had acquired practically an extensive knowledge of plants ; and, 

 although but slenderly educated, had made himself sufficiently master of 

 Latin to enable him to make use of such books as were put into his hands. 

 His power of observation was unusually strong, and he seized hold, as if by 

 instinct, of the peculiarities of every thing. He made great accessions to 

 botany and zoology during his residence in this remote quarter of the globe, 

 and was an extremely good preserver of specimens. It was his good for- 

 tune to be in the country when Mr. Brown and Mr. Bauer visited it ; and 

 the former gentleman, by whom he was highly esteemed, has done honour 

 to his intelligence, b}^ naming after him a fine orchideous genus, Calea««. 

 He calls him ** botanicus peritus et accuratus." * He was brought home as 

 an evidence on behalf of Governor Bligh, loading himself with a great store 

 of specimens of plants, and a fine collection of the birds and quadrupeds of 

 New Holland, which was purchased by the Linnean Society. Some account 

 is given of part of it in the 15th volume of the Linnean Transactions, where 

 Mr. Caley's merits are attested in every page. Having some claims to 

 settle with the Treasury, on account of his expenses home, it was on this 

 occasion, we believe, that, upon being tendered his expenses to return, he 

 utterly astonished the clerks, who seem not to have been familiar with such 

 instances of ingenuous honesty, by refusing to accept the money, saying it 

 was not his intention to return, and he could not think of taking what was 

 not his due; he asked, however, something which he conceived was his 

 due, but this was refused. 



After remaining at home for a few years, he was sent out by the goveFn- 

 ment as the successor of Dr. Anderson, in the superintendence of the bota- 

 nical garden at St. Vincent's. Here his quick sense of honour would not 

 permit him to continue to incur expenses which he considered unnecessary, 

 and he reduced the establishment so as to save the Treasury some hundreds 

 a year. He involved himself, too, in some litigation to recover a piece of 

 ground which belonged to the garden, in which he succeeded. Poor Caley, 

 however, got no thanks in the island, nor at home, for his unnecessary fi- 

 delity ; but, after residing there for about eleven years, the establishment 

 was wholly broken up, and he returned to England. For some years past, 

 he resided in seclusion at Bayswater, supported by the scanty pittance he 

 had saved while at St. Vincent's ; and, although his income scarcely exceeded 

 that of a day-labourer, he contrived to pick up several hundred volumes at 

 a cheap rate, chiefly of botanical works and voyages, which would have 

 done credit to more ample means. Indeed, the buying of books almost 



* " A skilful and accurate botanist." 



