LATE ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, ESQ. 319 



western base of which eminence their course lay. It was not 

 until the 16th that they reached their old encamping ground 

 on the plains of Daby, on the Cugeegong River, and on the 

 23d they arrived at Bathurst, where it was found necessary 

 to give the horses a further rest, and, on the evening of the 

 31st, they finally arrived safely at Paramatta. Mr Cun- 

 ningham waited on the Governor the next day, and laid be- 

 fore his Excellency a rough outline of the country through 

 which he had penetrated, north of Liverpool Plains ; and gave 

 his Excellency some brief observations on the general results 

 of the journey, with the whole of which the Governor ex- 

 pressed his entire satisfaction. On the delivery of a report 

 of his late journey, accompanied by a map of the new dis- 

 coveries, Mr Cunningham received the following letter from 

 the Governor's private secretary : — 



** Government House, Paramatta, 

 17/A November, 1827. 

 " Sir, — I am directed to acquaint you, that his Excellency 

 the Governor has forwarded the journal of your late expe- 

 dition into the interior of this colony, with its accompany- 

 ing map, to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State. 

 His Excellency has been unwilling to delay transmitting to 

 his Lordship the result of so interesting a journey, through an 

 extensive portion of hitherto unknown interior ; and he has 

 had pleasure in bearing testimony to the zeal and enterprise 

 with which it was undertaken, as also to the judgment and 

 success with which it has been performed. 

 " I have the honour to be, Sir, 



"Your most obedient and most humble Servant, 



« T. DE LA CoNDAMINE." 



" To A. Cunningham, Esq." 



The remaining portion of this year, and the months of 

 January and February 1828, were employed in journeys to 

 Bathurst, the Pine {Callitris) ridges on the banks of the 

 Macquarie below that settlement, and the forests of lUawarra, 

 for seeds and epiphytal OrchidecB for transmission to the 

 Royal Gardens. At the same period, Mr Cunningham re- 



