212 Obituary. 
with true Christian-like feeling, collected all the remains they could discover ; 
and having, in sad silence, deposited them in the ground, they raised a small 
mound over them, and barked some of the nearest trees, as the only means in 
their power of marking the spot whereon a man wholly devoted to science had, 
in the earnestness and zeal with which he was prosecuting botanical investiga- 
tion (attached, as he was, to the explorative expedition of Major Mitchell,) been 
deprived of life, by the hands of mistaken savages !' 
" Thus fell, in the very prime of life (having just completed his forty-second 
year), Richard Cunningham, an able botanist, and in other respects a very ta- 
lented man ; whose very amiable and obliging disposition had in his lifetime 
secured as much to him general esteem, as his premature, ever to be lamented 
death had produced a universal sentiment of unfeigned grief, in the minds of 
all his friends in England, ^nd of every colonist in New South Wales. 
" I have now given you the substance of the last official communication re- 
ceived from New South Wales, and which is a final one, regarding my poor 
brother ; who, you will observe, was but one night living with the natives. We 
cannot tell what might have been the state of his mind on that night, which 
had urged him repeatedly to rise, walk about, and listen to catch the bark of 
dogs, or any little stir (amidst the dead stillness of midnight,) from the consi- 
derable encampment of his anxious sleepless companions, not far removed from 
him at the time ! How dreadful must have been his feelings may be readily 
imagined. But, could he have composed himself, and not have risen and thus 
excited the suspicions of the savages among whom he was reposing, he proba- 
bly would have been recovered, in a day or two, by his companions, who came 
to the native encampment but a day or so too late ! He had a mind well disci- 
plined by the religious education he had received ; and, in perfect possession of 
his mental faculties, could soon have reconciled himself to a short lie in a re- 
mote desert, with savages, until rescued by his party : for he could say, with 
real feeling, and in firm belief in the existence of a merciful protecting Provi- 
dence, in the desert and every where, 
' There is mercy in every place : 
And mercy, encouraging thought ! 
Gives even affliction a grace, 
And reconciles man to his lot.' 
I can go no farther with you ; but, standing relatively as I do, in this sad busi- 
ness, let me now for ever draw a veil upon the whole ; just remarking, that 
two of the blacks found means to escape from the soldiers ; and what has been 
done with the third, who was conveyed to Sydney, and there lodged in jail, is 
not known : for it appears very doubtful whether any evidence could be obtain- 
ed, sufficient legally, to substantiate his guilt. Last December, the law officers 
had the case before them A. C. Strand on the Green, Kew, June 17, 1836." 
EDINBURGH : PRINTED BY JOHN STARK, OLD ASSEMBLY CLOSE. 
