308 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 



kindness of the Rev. H. Williams, and the other gentlemen 

 of the missionary station at Paihai, afforded him a return pas- 

 sage to Sydney in their little schooner the Herald ; and after 

 an affectionate farewell of his kind friends, with whom he 

 had resided for four months, and from whom he received 

 every possible attention and assistance in his pursuits, he em- 

 barked with his collections (which, from the unsettled state 

 of the northern part of the island, were somewhat circum- 

 scribed,) on the 29tli of December, and after a tedious pas- 

 sage from adverse winds, landed in Sydney on the 20th of 

 January, 1827, 



The botanical products of this expedition are given at 

 length, with descriptions of the new plants in the Companion 

 to the Botanical Magazine, Vol. II., and the Annals of Natu- 

 ral History, Vol. I. to IV., under the title of Florte Insu- 

 lariini Novoe Zelandice Precursor, or a specimen of tlie botany 

 of the islands of New Zealand, by Allan Cunningham, Esq. 



Mr Cunningham having understood that it was the wish 

 of the colonial government that a more extended exploratory 

 journey should be made in the north and north-western inte- 

 rior, for the purpose of investigating the capabilities of the 

 country for agricultural and other purposes, communicated 

 with the governor, lieutenant-general Darling, through the 

 secretary, Mr M'Leay, intimating his desire to conduct 

 an expedition for the proposed purposes, and gave a general 

 detail of the route he intended to pursue, and the portion of 

 country he wished to investigate. In his public letter he 

 says, " I have the honour to state to your Excellency, that in 

 the prosecution of this journey, it is my design to proceed, in 

 the first place, by the most eligible route from the colony 

 (Paramatta) to Peel's River, a stream that was discovered on 

 the north side of Liverpool Plains, by our late indefatigable 

 surveyor-general, Oxley, in his journey of 1818, who found 

 it situate within the meridians of 150' and 151' East, in or 

 about the parallel of 31° South. Upon fully preparing my- 

 self for my journey, 1 would take my departure from the 

 point at wliich Mr Oxley had crossed this river, and in tl»e 



