THE FOUNDING OF AUSTRALIA 227 



and three hundred and eighteen pages of description. 

 As early as 1805 he was thinking of returning to England. 

 Three years later there is a growing discontent with 

 existence ; partly because Bligh was not interested in 

 Discovery, and he had no other neighbour to confer with 

 concerning plants and Natural History ; and partly 

 through local politics. He lives like a hermit. His neigh- 

 bours are contemptuous over his occupation. Yet there 

 is a silver lining : he is grateful that it is "a country 

 which gives him an opportunity for distinguishing him- 

 self." Beside this, it is evident that reflection and read- 

 ing were making a man of him. His pages become en- 

 livened with curious anecdotes and shrewd observations. 

 And an occasional adventure in the forest or the desert 

 reveals the dangers and the difficulties of his pursuit. 



After a long interval, a letter came from Sir Joseph. 

 It was no response to Caley's sad-coloured tales, and his 

 hundreds of pages. The decline in Banks's health, and 

 the number of leading-strings he continued to hold, made 

 it increasingly difficult to do justice to all the interests in 

 his charge. This letter is from a man beginning to recog- 

 nize that the burden of life was telling upon him, and he 

 would gladly relinquish some of his self-imposed responsi- 

 bilities. 



Sir Joseph Banks to George Caley. 



" SOHO SQUARE, August 25, 1808. 



" I have been a long time prevented from writing to 

 you by increasing age and infirmities, principally by 

 having the gout upon me with severity at the times when 

 opportunity of letters offered. 



' You have in general been an active, a diligent, and 

 a useful assistant to me in your present situation ; and 

 I have found you on many occasions to possess a strong 

 understanding. I cannot, however, agree with you in the 

 propriety of your having refused to deliver up the plants 



