Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. For the text given here, see Argus, 21 October 1885, p. 10, col. b. The text is introduced with the following information: ‘At a meeting of the committee of the Victorian branch of the Geographical Society of Australia, held on the 9th inst., a letter was read from Mr. H. O. Forbes, F.R.G.S., to Baron von Mueller, dated Port Moresby, New Guinea, September 19, in which the following passages occurred:—’. The item was subsequently reprinted in Brisbane courier, 9 November 1885, p. 5 and in German translation in Australische Zeitung, 21 October 1885, p. 3.

Rest assured that I shall do my very utmost to secure a large collection of high-altitude plants. The alpine flora of the Malayan mountains have been a source of the acutest pleasure to me for some years past, and I have since I arrived looked from the Astrolabe Range

2

Papua.

across the Owen Stanleys with most ardent and longing eyes. On my arrival, which I hastened in advance of my Malays by coming with Sir Peter Scratchley,

3

Scratchley was appointed Administrator of Papua in 1885 but died shortly after taking up office.

I made a journey of 50 miles into the interior to Sageri, to select a site for my first depôt, and now that my carriers and assistants have arrived I am ready to start in a couple of days more for that spot. I shall work steadily inwards from there, and in a very short time I hope to have laid a good foundation of a herbarium. I hope to spend here among these mountains the months between this and December, 1886, at least if I can afford it. With the composition of the expedition — we secured Mr. Hennessy, a very good navigator, and Mr. Anderson (detached from Sir Peter Scratchley’s expedition to aid me) as one of my botanical collectors, and with several experienced Amboinese, not new by many years to New Guinean climates — I ought to accomplish some good work. The expedition, however, is handicapped enough for the ‘sinews of war.’ You must yourself know that some £1,500 in all, to bring from Europe, and from the Malay Archipelago, so large a company, and to support it for nearly two years, is a mere fractional item of the expenses. I am only too glad to work as I have done now for years without remuneration; but as I have not the means myself to support this work unaided, I hope the friends of science, whose servant I claim to be in spirit as in deed, will aid still further the exploration of this region.