Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. For the text given here, see Yeoman and Australian acclimatiser, 11 April 1863, p. 433. The article was reprinted in Argus, 14 April 1863, p. 7. The letter is introduced: 'The following are extracts made from a private letter lately received by Dr. Mueller from Mr. Haast, the Government geologist of New Zealand, giving some account of his late successful expedition to the west coast of the middle island [i.e. New Zealand's South Island]'.

In the meantime, I have been able to collect many new and undescribed, or otherwise interesting plants, and to obtain many valuable observations on the geography of plants. Of the former I shall not fail to send you your share for your collections.

You see that my usual good luck has not left me, as I have succeeded in finding a pass through the Alps. This pass is about the most curious object known to me in physical geography, being only 1,600ft. high, whilst for hundreds of miles there is scarcely a snow-saddle to be found, whilst here only the mountain-chain is broken through, the sides about 10,000ft. high, being covered with snow and glaciers.

2

See also M to J. Haast, 1 April 1863 (in this edition as 63-04-01a).

You may form some idea of our joy (my party consisted of five besides myself) when, after having marched for about 79 miles through a primeval forest, and after having crossed numbers of rapid rivers, we were at last able to bathe our feet in the waves of the ocean on the west coast. During our journey I had a narrow escape. Trusting too much to a projecting root I slipped, and fell in a deep rent between two rocks on a sharp block of stone. I was by myself, with no one near me to render me any assistance, and thought my leg was broken. Excessive pain made me faint. I recovered after about two hours, and succeeded in extricating myself, finding, to my great joy, that I had escaped with a severe laceration of the muscles and skin of my leg, which healed up after two days of comparative rest, wading during that time through glacial rivers. Such is the life of an explorer. . .

I have left orders in Christchurch to forward to you my rather long report to Government, which is to be printed immediately.

3

A 'preliminary report', J. Haast (1883), was published in the Lyttelton times on 1 April, and it may have been to this that Haast was referring.

Haast's full report with a map and geological section was 'not laid on the table' of the Canterbury Provincial Council until 18 August 1863 and was evidently not printed: copies could not be found by either the National Library of New Zealand or Archives New Zealand. The report and map survive in Archives New Zealand, Christchurch Regional Office as 'R20592639 - CH287 - CP608a/PPC 21 - Session 20 - Papers and Returns - Report, map and section by the Provincial Geologist shewing result of Journey to the Western part of the Province -18 Aug 1863', which comprises the narrative account, and 'R20592641 - CH287 - CP608a/PPC 23 - Session 20 - Papers and Returns - Map accompanying Report of Geological Survey - 18 Aug 1863', 'a very small hand-drawn map' (e-mail, Archives New Zealand, 20 September 2021); the geological section is represented only by the cover sheet, at 'R20592640 - CH287 - CP608a/PPC 22 - Session 20 - Papers and Returns - Section accompanying Report of Geological Survey - 18 Aug 1863'. The title of the paper listed in the Journal of Proceedings of the Provincial Council, vol. 2, p. 207 is incorrect. H. von Haast (1948), p. 1089 lists this report with the incorrect date of the paper, and does not indicate that it was unpublished.

By it you will see that I have endeavoured to honour the memory of your explorers, who succumbed whilst engaged in scientific researches, by naming two rivers the Burke and the Wills.

4

Both tributaries of what is now known as the Haast River, which drains the western watershed of the Haast Pass.