Botanical Discovery.'] INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. cxxi 



ray, and Murrumbidgee rivers high up in their course, and reaching Goulburn in New South Wales 

 in the following November. In this very extraordinary journey Mitchell was accompanied by a good 

 plant-collector named Richardson, and the collections were brought safe and in good condition to 

 Sydney, and sent to Dr. Lindley, by whom many have been described. 



The narratives of the three journeys were published in two volumes, 8vo ; they abound in useful 

 and instructive information to the geographer, and especially to the naturalist. Dr. Lindley's de- 

 scriptions are appended as notes to the pages of the volume, and render it a most important work to 

 the botanist. 



Mitchell's fourth Expedition was to subtropical Australia, and was undertaken in the hope of 

 discovering a river flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria, which would take much of the Australian 

 produce to the sea without passing through Torres Straits. Very fine collections were made in this 

 journey, chiefly amongst a group of mountains 2-3,000 feet high, discovered in lat. 25° S. and long. 

 147° E. The plants were given to Dr. Lindley and Sir W. Hooker, by whom descriptions were 

 drawn up and appended to the narrative of the journey, which was published in 1848* Like Mit- 

 chell's other works, this contains excellent landscapes from sketches made by himself, which give 

 faithful as well as artistically good views of the vegetation he describes, and render his works as 

 attractive as they are useful to the naturalist. 



In 1844 the lamented Dr. Ludwig Leichardt, after spending several years in New South Wales, 

 started on his adventurous journey from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. This Expedition originated 

 in private enterprise, but it was promoted by a public subscription in the colony, and I have hence 

 classed it amongst the Colonial enterprises. Starting from Moreton Bay, he proceeded north-west to 

 the Gulf of Carpentaria, coasted its head, and travelled northwards through Arnheim's Land to Port 

 Essington, which he reached after a journey of a year and two months. 



The narrative of Dr. Leichardt, who appears to have had a very considerable knowledge of botany, 

 contains as much Botany as Geography, and is by far the fullest published detailed account of the 

 tropical vegetation of the interior of Australia that we possess. 



In December 1846, Dr. Leichardt started from Sydney with the view of crossing Australia from 

 Moreton Bay to Swan River, a journey which he calculated would occupy two years and a half. 

 Since his departure, however, from a point on his previous journey, a little to the north-west of 

 Moreton Bay, nothing has been heard of this accomplished man and adventurous explorer. 



Dr. Leichardt's collections became, I believe, the property of his friend the late Mr. Lind, bar- 

 rack-master in Sydney, and were eventually sold.f 



In 1840, Captain Eyre's perilous journey from Adelaide to the Swan River proved the utter 

 sterility of the waterless coast which he traversed. Between the meridians of Streaky Bay and 

 Lucky Bay there appears to be scarcely any vegetation at all, except on the outlying islands, on some 

 of which Brown had botanized when in Flinders' voyage, and on which he appears to have found very 

 little. At the meridian of 118° again the peculiar vegetation of south-western Australia commences, 

 as we know from Mr. Roe's explorations, which next come under review. 



In 1848 a journey of discovery into the interior of south-western Australia was undertaken by 

 J. S. Roe, Esq., Surveyor-General, during which excellent collections of plants were made and trans- 



* An abstract of this journey was also communicated to the 'London Journal of Botany ' (vol. vi. p. 364) by 

 R. Heward, Esq. 



f Some further information regarding Dr. Leichardt's expeditions will be found in the ' London Journal of 

 Botany,' vols, iv., v., vi., and vii., communicated by P. B. Webb, Esq., and B. Heward, Esq. 



