COASTS OF AUSTRALIA. 
233 
scientific attainments in the field of botany are 
well and widely known. It is to be hoped, 
however, that the few subjects offered to the 
scientific world in the appendix through the kind- 
ness of my friends, will not be thought un- 
interesting or unimportant; and that they will 
serve to shew how very desirable it is to in- 
crease the comparatively slender knowledge that 
we possess of this extensive country, which in 
this respect might still with propriety retain its 
ancient name of Terra Australis Incognita, 
Whilst this sheet was going through the press, 
accounts were received at the Admiralty from 
Captain J. G. Bremer, C.B. of H. M. Ship 
Tamar, who was despatched by the government 
in the early part of last year, (1824,) to take 
possession of Arnhem’s Land, upon the north 
coast of the continent, and to form an establish- 
ment upon the most eligible spot that could be 
found for a mercantile depot. Of the proceedings 
of this expedition, the following particulars have 
been communicated to me by Lieutenant J. S. 
Roe, my former companion and assistant, who 
was appointed lieutenant of the Tamar upon her 
being destined for that service; and which, as 
the sequel of the voyage I have been describing, 
cannot be deemed irrelevant or uninteresting, 
since the place fixed upon by Captain Bremer 
