Appendix VI. 5 1 3 



for looking upon it with regret. We feel that it has been no light or 

 trifling advantage to have had among us one of that small class of men 

 who conduct the great national expeditions by which the benefits of 

 science are distributed over the world. 



We know that such an one comes invested with the highest possible 

 authorit}' to speak decidedly on the subjects of his investigations, and 

 are sure that we may place the most implicit confidence in his state- 

 ments. It is the great characteristic of such scientific pursuits as you are 

 engaged in, that though on the one hand they are joined to the deepest 

 and inmost principles of nature, on the other they are linked to the 

 daily wants and commonest necessities of life. We believe therefore 

 that your visit here will not be barren of practical results. We believe 

 that it will give us both a desire to develope, as far as possible, our share 

 of the gifts of nature, and a knowledge how we may best do this. 



We know that we have had no special claims on you for the interest 

 you have taken in our welfare. The advantages which we have de- 

 rived from it are, however, of such a kind that both those who give and 

 those who receive may be proud of. We have had many opportunities 

 of noticing how earnestly you pursue knowledge for its own sake, and 

 are glad to find that those who do so are the most ready to employ for 

 the benefit of others what they have acquired themselves. You have 

 done this in our case with considerable personal exertion and discomfort, 

 which have been cheerfully encountered by your diligence and activity. 



We do not wish to do more than allude to considerations of a personal 

 kind. But we must express our appreciation of your courteous and kind 

 behaviour towards us, and assure you that few men could have been 

 among us for so short a time and have acquired so much of the charac- 

 ter of a personal friend. 



We beg your acceptance of the accompanying Testimonial, the pro- 

 duct of our Gold-fields, and we ask you to apply it to the purchase of a 

 piece of plate, which may help to keep us in your remembrance, and on 

 which we ask you to place the following inscription : — 



" Presented to Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter, Geologist to the Imperial 

 Eoyal Austrian Scientific Expedition in the frigate Norara, by the 

 inhabitants of the Province of Nelson, New Zealand, as a record of their 

 appreciation of the great benefits conferred upon them and the Colony 



\'0L, III. 2 L 



