xxii SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OP NEW ZEALAND. [ttistoricai. 



different vessels, and during the next year the trade was still carried on with equal 

 vigour ; but after this there was another decline, and there are records of only two 

 voyages in 1828 and one in 1829. This latter was made by the ship " Faith," and 

 on her return the crew reported that the swarms of sea-elephants and seals had left 

 the island owing to the continued slaughter. It is worth noting that the Mac- 

 quarie Island parrots were reported to be still abundant, and several were brought 

 back by the crew of this vessel. The " Faith " also brought with her two gangs 

 of men that had been left on the island thirty months before, but the names of the 

 vessels by which they were landed remain unknown. 



Of all these sealing trips very little permanent record has been made, and most 

 of that which is available has been unearthed by Mr. McNab's laborious researches. 

 Even in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, however, these islands had begun 

 to attract attention from a wider circle, and to some extent had been described in 

 various works. For example, Delano, an American who made three voyages to 

 various parts of the Pacific between 1790 and 1807, gives a slight description of the 

 Snares and the Bounty Islands in the narrative of his voyages and travels, published 

 in 1817. A glowing account of Auckland Island is given by Captain Morrell in his 

 " Narrative of Four Voyages," published in 1832, in which he states that Auckland 

 Island " is one of the finest places for a small settlement that can be found on any 

 island in the Southern Hemisphere above lat. 35°." He also mentions that scarcely 

 any seals were to be found at the time of his visit — 1829-30 — either at the Auckland 

 Islands or at the Snares. All of the islands to the south and east of New Zealand 

 are mentioned in D'Urville's imaginary voyage, published in 1834, the material 

 for which he obtained from the writings of many previous explorers. He was after- 

 wards privileged to visit more than once in actual person some of these places which 

 he had described in his imaginary voyage. 



Balleny called at Campbell Island on the 17th January, 1839, on his way 

 further south, and there met Biscoe, a seal-hunter in the employ of the London 

 firm of Rlnderby, who had made important discoveries in southern seas and had 

 previously visited some of the islands to the south of New Zealand. 



All this contributed little, however, to the scientific knowledge of the fauna 

 and flora of these islands. Probably about this time, some few plants from Mac- 

 quarie Island came into the hands of Mr. Charles Fraser, Superintendent of the 

 Sydney Botanical Gardens, and were sent to Sir W. Hooker, but whether Fraser, 

 who had visited the Bay of Islands, in the north of New Zealand, in 1825, gathered 

 them himself or secured them through some of the sealers is not clear. Bellings- 

 hausen's visit to Macquarie Island in 1820 has been already referred to. 



The real scientific investigation of these islands did not commence till the 

 year 1839, when the French Expedition, in the corvettes " Astrolabe " and " Zelee," 

 under Admiral D'Urville, visited Auckland Island. This expedition was accompanied 

 by Messrs. Hombron and Jacquinot as naturalists, and extensive collections were 

 made, especially of the plants. An account of these was published between 1841 

 and 184fi, under the title of " Voyage au Pole sud," the Cryptogams being de- 

 scribed in 1845 by Camille Montagne. About the same time Auckland Island was 

 visited by the United States Exploring Expedition under Commodore Wilkes, but 

 only a short stay appears to have been made, and the botanical results were some- 

 what scanty. Macquarie Island was also visited by the United States Expedition. 



