THE BELLENDEN-KEE EXPEDITION. 
By a. Meston. 
SJExtmcted from the Courier,' ^1 
4 
The following is the preliminary chapter of an account of the first 
expedition of the kind ever sent out in Australia by any Australian 
Government. Those who by some artless process of reasoning, or 
more likely by an abrupt arrival at a conclusion without the assistance 
of any reason whatever, conceived an idea that tbe expedition was a 
picnic excursion — one prolonged holiday of calm, ecstatic, sensuous joy 
— will be required to part from that idea, with or without a pang. When 
the attention of the Colonial Secretary was called to the desirableness 
of Queensland obtaining the first knowledge of her own scientific 
resources, and my own services were offered gratuitously as the leader 
of a scientific party, Mr. Morehead remarked at once that the proposal 
commanded his earnest approval, and the whole preliminary business, 
so far as he was concerned, was settled in ten minutes ; while, in the 
Lands Office, Mr. Black displayed an equally admirable decision. 
Mr. Bailey and myself left Brisbane on board the " Elamang " on the 
4tli June. We arrived at Cairns on the 9th, and were met there by Mr. 
Kendall Broadbent, the museum zoological collector, who had come down 
from the Herberton Ranges to join the expedition. In three days all pre- 
liminary preparations were completed, and we started on the 14th from 
Cairns, The party consisted of Mr. E. M. Bailey, colonial botanist; Mr. 
Broadbent, the ornithologist ; my fourteen-year-old son Harold ; a 
colonial experience young man named Walter Beman, sent out to me 
from Yorkshire ; four Tanna Island kanakas ; and myself. All the 
tinware and cooking utensils used by the expeditionary force were 
specially made for the occasion. There was one small ordinary tent 
for Mr. Broadbent ; oilcloth and canvas to make a camp for the 
" boys;" and for the rest a large bell-shaped military tent, for which 
we were indebted to the considerate courtesy of Colonel French, who 
kindly sent it up from Townsville. With the exception of Mr. 
Broadbent' s gun, all the firearms were supplied by myself free of cost 
to the Government. They included a double No. 20 choke-bore, by 
Adams ; a double No. 12 choke-bore first-class Hollis ; a sporting 
Snider rifle ; and a single No. 12 choke-bore Greener, generously pre- 
sented by Gartside and Son. Here, also, I would mention the graceful 
and appropriate present of a handsome rug and complete water- 
proof suit from Mr. Thomas Einney, of Einney, Isles, and Co. 
Besides large and small tomahawks, there were six cane knives for 
cutting tracks. These knives are made by Diston and Son, the famous 
saw-makers, out of the finest steel, and are the best instruments known 
for scrub work. The blade is 14 iiiches long by 4 inches wide at the end, 
narrowing to 2i inches at the handle, which is 7 inches long. They weigh 
only a little over 1 lb., are practically unbreakable, and will stand an 
incredible amount of work. Sir William Macgregor told me he found a 
brass-handled Erench cutlass the most effective article on the Owen 
Stanley Eange, but no species of cutlass can rival these cane knives 
