192 
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 
King loved to pen to the latter. No one was kept better posted in. 
the affairs of the colony than Banks. An enclosure of this letter 
contains a list of bird -skins sent to him. 
King writes to Banks,* * * § under date 5th June, 1802, in which he 
gives an account of Commodore Baudin’s expedition, intimates that 
he is sending natural history specimens, discusses a natural deposit 
of salt, and touches on the whale industry. 
Banks to King, 8th April, 180.3,t speaks of the safe arrival of the 
“ manifold packages ” the latter has sent him. He remarks “ The 
seeds from Mr. Brown make a most valuable addition to our gardens ; 
those from Caley were this time very interesting ; he had collected 
several new sorts from the banks of the Hawkesbury, and altogether 
sent home to me 170 sorts.” 
On 9th May, 1803,J King writes to Banks a very newsy letter. He 
refers to Brown’s botanical collections, to Captain Baudin’s expedition, 
and makes interesting references to sheep and wool. “ The sheep 
increase and thrive exceedingly well ; they also improve greatly in 
their wool. As yet we have got nothing better than a blanketting, 
of w'hich we make a great deal.” He then speaks most hopefully 
of the country for cattle and sheep-breeding. 
He reports the successful introduction of the hop-plant, and says 
that a good breed of sheep-dog is badly wanted. 
In a letter. King to Banks, llth August, 1804,§ occurs the passage : — 
Our crops of flax give constant employment to nine looms. We soon shall 
have twenty at work, and half of them on sail-cloth. From a pint of hemp-seed, 
sent from India in 1802, I have now' sow'n 10 acres for Government. A specimen 
of the rope is round the box that Cayley sends you, which I have desired may be 
carefully preserved. It grows with the utmost luxuriance, and is generally from 
C to 10 feet in height. 
Banks to King, 29th August, 1804, [j says: — 
I had a great loss in Lord Hobart’s going out of office, for I had just prevailed 
upon His Lordship and j\Ir. Sullivan, his Secretary, to understand the history of 
your colony, and was in hopes of going on better than I ever have done, when 
His Lordship resigned. 
I have a new task to undertake, to bring Lord Camden and l\Ir. Cooke into the 
same happy disposition. 
King to Banks, 20th April, 1805,^ states that the “ Investigator ” 
has been repaired, and that she is proceeding to England with Messrs. 
Brown and Bauer and their collections. Col. Paterson sent a box 
of seeds from Port Dalrymple. Mr. Brown left the “ Porpoise’s ” 
garden in care of Caley, who “ has nothing, or does not choose to send 
* Hist. Rec., iv, 782. 
t Ib., V, 835. 
t Ih., 135. 
§ Ib., 449. 
II Ib., 457. 
•- Ib., 626. 
