THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



In the 



Mitchell 



Library. 



Banksian 

 MS. at 

 Auckland. 



1768) to the last (i2th July, 1771). That is to say, this Mitchell 

 Journal the Journal which " came into the possession " of Mr. 

 Henniker Heaton is not the fragment of a Journal that was sold 

 at Sotheby's for j as. 6d. That fragment went elsewhere. 

 Where it went we will notice a little later. 



That the Journal in the Mitchell Library is the Journal written 

 by Banks on the Endeavour is, in my opinion, certain. It is 

 written in Banks's handwriting in its youthful vigour. It shows 

 the changes of form that one would expect in a Journal written, 

 sometimes from day to day, sometimes after an interval of a few 

 days, sometimes as in the long descriptions of the South Sea 

 Islands, of New Zealand, and of New Holland in the leisure of 

 the voyage. Banks frequently refers to the writing of the 

 Journal. He jots down the joyful days at Tahiti with such haste 

 that he fears he will be unable to read his own writing. He wishes 

 his London friends could see him sitting " journalising " at his 

 table in mid-ocean, while Solander botanises at the other side. 



A close examination shows that Banks wrote in loose sections 

 of four unstitched folded sheets each section, that is to say, 

 making sixteen pages. Before writing, he folded each page at 

 the top and on both sides, in order to mark space for headlines 

 and for marginal notes. When he got home, he bound these 

 sections in two volumes. The binding was so done that some 

 part of the marginal notes is hidden from view ; a fact which 

 proves that they were written before the volume was bound. 

 In the middle of these sections, Banks bound an account of 

 various electrical experiments written, at various dates in the 

 course of the voyage, on " separate papers," i.e. in another 

 section of four folded sheets ; another proof that the binding 

 was done after the return. 



On reaching the end of a part of the Journal, Banks sometimes 

 left a blank space. On the blank space at the end of the de- 

 scription of New Zealand, he added at a later date this is indicated 

 by the handwriting a note that he had learnt at the Cape that 

 ships, sailing a second voyage, could easily take in good provisions 

 there. Banks frequently added to and corrected the Journal. 

 He twice corrected " Stingray " to " Botany," and changed 

 " New Holland " into " that part of New Holland now called 

 New South Wales " (see p. 443). In one place MS. Journal, 

 vol. i. p. 342 he added a marginal note dated aist January, 

 1772, i.e. six months after his return to England. 



It is highly desirable that this Journal should be printed and 

 edited. 



What became of the fragment of a Journal in Banks's hand- 

 writing dated according to Sotheby's Catalogue March 1769 

 to July 1771 ? In the Free Public Library, Auckland, New 

 Zealand, are three documents in Banks's handwriting. I have rfot 

 seen them, but their nature has been described by Mr. H. Shaw 



