I 



DEAWING AT SEA 61 



As far as I could I imitated Bauer's ^ style of drawing dis- 

 sections, but as the only sketches on board of that artist 

 are two in Parry's Voyage, I have not much to copy from 

 and I do not expect that they will please you much, and 

 further when the ship gets through a pack she at once meets 

 the troubled waters, and commences rolling about so that 

 I have to lash my portfolio and microscope and to prop 

 myself up. However I get on as well as I expected. Some 

 of the notes are in a very rude state, for the notice of the 

 opportimity was sudden. That they may prove correct is 

 all that I hope for, as I endeavoured to stick to facts. . . . 

 These are . . . both as numerous and as well done as I 

 could. 



He did not restrict himself to scientific drawing, however. 

 In the same letter he tells his father : 



At present I am attempting a sketch of the ships off 

 the Barrier and burning mountain in 78° South for you, 

 and should I succeed you shall have it ; my talent for 

 sketching is, however, far below far, and without colours 

 it would be nothing. There is rather a nice print pubHshed 

 of Weddell's two ships bearing up in 74° 15', by Huggins, 

 which would be w^orth your buying ; a few shillings would 

 cover it, and the Icebergs in it give a very fair idea of those 

 floating masses, though they are not flat-topped like the 

 most of those we have seen, nor is the colour at all good, 

 as they should have a blue tinge. 



Doubtless his artistic power was improving, for a year 

 earlier (February 3, 1840) he is much more severe upon his 

 general drawing. *My sketches are characteristic of the 

 different places visited, but miserably done ; they are not 

 intended for any person but you to see.* Still, at the end of 

 the voyage, he feels that his execution is not equal to his aims, 

 though many of his sketches were utilised as the basis of 



^ Francis Bauer (1758-1840), the superb botanical draughtsman employed 

 by Banks, who left him a pension that he might continue his work at Kew. 

 His name appears as illustrator on the title-page of Sir W. Hooker's Genera 

 Filicum (1838-40) ; but more than half the plates were drawn by the new 

 draughtsman, Walter Fitqh, who was to serve Kew and the Hookers for half 

 a century. 



