Botany of the Bellenden-Ker Expedition (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889. Excerpt: ... THE BELLENDEN-KER EXPEDITION, By A. Meston. Extractedfrom the "Courier." + 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 the 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 4th 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 preliminary preparations were completed, and we started on the 14th from Cairns. The party consisted of Mr. F. 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 ...