1886.] Presidents Address, xlvii 



linger, Hilsenberg, Bojer, and Zeyher for his scheme of travel. Zeyher, 

 in August, 1822, accompanied him on his voyage to Mauritius, and was 

 either left behind to begin work at the Cape or proceeded thither 

 after a few months' delay. (^*) Early in 1824, Sieber returned from 

 Australia by way of the Cape, and received from Zeyher all the collec- 

 tions he had made in the interim. These were to be disposed of in 

 Europe and the proportion of the proceeds remitted to Zeyher, who 

 remained at the Cape, still diligently collecting under the original 

 agreement. Sieber, always hare-brained, seems to have treated his 

 obligations towards his comrade very lightly. Certain it is that 

 Zeyher never received anything for his work, and considered his 

 engagement void. Collecting now on his own behalf, he sent consign- 

 ments of plants to his uncle'at Schwetzingen, but the sales effected were 

 not large. About 1829 he joined Ecklon, as we have before seen, in 

 systematic preparation of botanical specimens. After his partner's 

 voyage to Europe, Zeyher went to Uitenhage, where he was for some 

 time in the service of Mr. Joachim Brehm, whose fine garden was to 

 that district very much what Baron Yon Ludwig's was to Cape Town 

 and its vicinity. I am told he made some small venture in market 

 gardening also, but with scanty success. His collections, however, 

 were considerable, and they were mainly sent for sale to London under 

 the patronage of Sir W. J. Hooker. But while at Uitenhage he 

 engaged, in November, 1840, to accompany James Burke, the zoolo- 

 gical collector sent out by the Earl of Derby to obtain living animals 

 for the private menagerie at Knowsley Park. His journal during this 

 trip possesses considerable interest, and was published partly in 

 Hooker's London Journal of Botany (1846), vol. v, pp. 109-134, 313- 

 343, and the remainder, after an interval of nine years, in the Journal 

 of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany, vol. vii (1855), pp. 326-334, 

 362-370. This break in the continuity is not explained. I possess an 

 off-print copy which belonged to Zeyher, and has some curious notes 

 in his handwriting, showing that whatever credit was assumed by 

 Burke, the lion's share of work, both manual and scientific, was done 

 by his more modest companion. Ill luck followed him, tardily, but 

 with certain step. He had spent much time in preparing an elaborate 

 collection of Cape timber and other trees. Each species -vvas repre- 

 sented by transverse, radial, and longitudinal sections, with dried 

 specimens of the foliage, flower, and fruit. The series was so complete 

 and properly appointed that it was quickly bespoken at a high price 

 for the Berlin Museum. But this fruit of several years' solitary labour 

 was to be snatched from him, just as previously had been his share in 

 the joint herbaria burnt in the Hamburg disaster. The collection 

 was duly shipped for Europe by Mr. C. E. Silberbauer, who had 

 taken much interest in its preparation, and befriended Zeyher in many 

 ways. In a week came news of the wreck of the vessel carrying this, 

 his second great venture, and total loss of the consignment. 



In 1843 he made a second trip to Namaqualand, and next year, 

 gathering his collections together, went to London to arrange for their 

 sale. He remained at Kew for about nine months, then visited his 

 native place in G-ermany, and ultimately, in 1847, returned to Cape- 

 town. 



("). There is a little discrepancy in the accounts here. Sieber says (Fruhl. 23) : 

 '' Wir schieden in Mauritius; Zeyher ging nach den Cap, ich nach NeuhoUand ab." 

 There are several reasons for treating this statement as an error of memory. 



