390 Letters, Announcements, i^c. 



Capt. Goodenough had as yet received no orders, and that 

 he thought it very unlikely that the ' Pearl ' would be sent 

 to New Guinea. Of course it was no use waiting on a 

 chance ; and I was just beginning to think about N.W. Aus- 

 tralia again, when I received a letter from the Rev. Mr. 

 Brown, in which he informed me that he was ordered to take 

 charge of a mission-tri]) to the Pacific and New Guinea, 

 where they were anxious to establish missionaries on New 

 Ireland,New Britain, and the N.E. mainland. He thought that 

 this might suit me as well as the ' Pearl ' expedition, which 

 he had heard I was anxious to join, and that, if this was the 

 case, I should apply to the Sidney Mission Board and make 

 my proposal. Afterwards I met Mr. Brown in Melbourne, 

 and had a long talk with him over the matter. He said that 

 he thought that there would not be the slightest difficulty in 

 the matter, but that 1 should have to wait till their ship 

 ' John Weslc}^ ' had arrived in Sydney from Fiji, as some- 

 body or other was on board who had to be asked in the matter 

 under consideration. Another delay before work; but I 

 thought that I would not give up New Guinea and the Isles 

 without a try, and so I decided to wait a second time. There 

 would be about two months^ time ; so I made up my mind 

 to have a look through New Zealand, and two days after 

 found me on board the ' Albion,' and four more in the South 

 Island. This will explain why my letter is dated from New 

 Zealand. As I am anxious to see as much of the country as 

 I possibly can, I have not been able to devote all my time to 

 collecting ; and taking this into consideration, I have had very 

 fair success. One thing I can boast of already is having been 

 in the midst of the Kakapoes : but I did not accomplish this 

 without some trouble; for the Stringops, unfortunately, is 

 driven yearly further and further up country by the settlers, 

 and now it is only met with in the most lonely movmtain- 

 districts. But I hardly think that any trouble and labour 

 would be too great to see the bird as I saw it, at home, and, 

 what is even better, procure a fine series of specimens. My 

 trip was undertaken from Invercargill, and consisted of forty 

 miles by rail, twenty-four in a coach, and some fifty more 



