LlNNEAlir SOCIETY OF LONDON. Xxix 



conclusion of tlie war, being several times noticed for his gallantry 

 in action. In 1814 lie was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and 

 in 1817 was entrusted with the conduct of an important expedition 

 intended to complete Capt. Flinders' survey of the coast of ]N"ew 

 Holland ; a service in which he continued to be employed, first in 

 the Mermaid cutter, and afterwards in the Bathurst sloop (to the 

 command of which he was promoted by conunission dated July 

 17th, 1821), until the year 1823. The results of his foiu- voyages 

 in these vessels are contained in " A Narrative of the Sm-vey of 

 the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia, performed 

 between the years 1818 and 1822," 2 vols. 8vo, Lond. 1827, and 

 in an Atlas, published by the Hydrographical Office of the Admi- 

 ralty. In these voyages he was accompanied by an able and 

 indefatigable botanist, Mr. Allan Cunningham, to whom " on all 

 occasions he gave every assistance in his power," and whose 

 grateful sense of Captain King's unvarying friendship terminated 

 only with his life. Besides the botanical collections, of which 

 Mr. Cunningham gave some account in the Appendix to the 

 ' Narrative,' valuable Collections were also made in other branches 

 of natural history, and the appendix contains contributions by 

 Dr. Gray, on the Mammalia, B,eptLles, and Shells ; by Mr. W. S. 

 MacLeay, on the Aimulosa ; by Capt. King himself, aided by INIr. 

 Yigors, in relation to the Birds ; and is more especially distinguished 

 by a most important memoir by Mr. Brown, entitled " Character 

 and Description of Kingia, a New Grenus of Plants found on the 

 South-west coast of New Holland : with Observations on the Struc- 

 ture of the Unimpregnated Ovuluni ; and on the Female Flowers 

 of Cycadeae and Coniferse." The high qualifications of Capt. King 

 as a surveying officer had now so completely established him in 

 the confidence of the Admiralty, that he was not long permitted 

 to remain unemployed. In September 1825 he was appointed to 

 the command of the Adventure sloop, with orders to survey the 

 southern coast of America, from the entrance of the Rio Plata round 

 Cape Horn as far as the archipelago of Chiloe, and the coasts of 

 Terra del Fuego. In February 1830 he received his commission 

 as Post-Captain, and in November of the same year he returned 

 to England, leaving his second in command, Capt. Fitzroy, to 

 complete the remainder of the siirvey, and to give to the world the 

 detailed account of the proceedings of the two vessels. He himself 

 published in 1832, a volume entitled " Sailing Directions for South 

 America," and a second part was afterwards added by Capt. Fitzroy. 

 The " Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships 



