114 TASMANIA AND THE ANTAECTIC 



comfortable here both in my mess, the cabin and the ship. 

 My only regret is that the necessarily altered course and 

 prospects of the voyage stand so much in the way of Botany. 

 The utter desolation of 70° South could never have been 

 expected, and Capt. Eoss as fully expected to winter, and 

 collect plants in ^spring and leave the ice for good and all 

 as I did, as also that we should be able anywhere to land 

 and collect as in the North. It cannot be helped now, we 

 must again return to the Southward, and I shall be again 

 employed alternately collecting sea animals, examining 

 plants and sketching coast views. I shall, however, never 

 regret having gone the voyage, for I doubt not we shaU enjoy 

 the thanks and praise of our countrymen for what we have 

 done. No pains has been spared to render the voyage 

 serviceable, we have done our best, and Capt. Eoss's 

 perseverance has been put to the most severe test in pene- 

 trating as far as he has, and for my own part I am wdlhng 

 to work night and day, as I have done, to make accurate 

 sketches of the products of our labors. To me it wiU be 

 always a satisfaction to know that I have done according 

 to my poor abilities, and if I cannot please Botanists I am 

 not therefore to be idle when I may do some good to zoology. 

 Could I with honor leave the expedition here, I would at 

 once and send home my plants for sale as I collected them, 

 but now my hope and earnest wish is to be able on my 

 return home to devote my time ^lely to Botany and to 

 that end the sooner we get back the better for me. My 

 habits are not expensive, but should I not be able to live 

 at home with you, I would have no objection to follow 

 Gardner's ^ steps and gain an honorable livehhood by the 

 sale of specimens. 



It is well worth setting down another and quite unlooked 

 for impression of these scenes, for some of the most cmiously 



^ George Gardner (1812-49) was a Glasgow man who studied under Sir 

 W. J. Hooker. His botanical journey to Brazil in 1836 was made possible 

 through Sir William, who helped him to secure a number of subscribers, 

 including the Duke of Bedford, for the plants he might collect. He returned 

 in 1841 with a vast collection, an enumeration of which he published, as Avell 

 as accounts of new species, and a paper on the connection of Climate and 

 Vegetation. His full account of his travels appeared in 1846, In 1844 he 

 was appointed Superintendent of the Ceylon Botanical Garden, where his active 

 career was cut short by apoplexy, March 10, 1849. The vacant post was 

 ofEered to Hooker, but refused by him. 



