Ferdinand von Mueller

11/1/66

This day, dear Mr Beveridge, I received your kind note of the 9. January,

1

Letter not found.

together with the paper in which our poor late Lady-friend so masterly described her Murray Excursion.

2

Not identified. No article corresponding to M's description was published in the Transactions of the Ethnological Society in the period 1866-69.

I had no idea, of this Lady possessing such genuine genius & I will send this beautiful article to Sir Charl. Nicholson, that the ethnological Society may take notice of it.

It is very generous of you to send me the Lowans.

3

i.e. Mallee fowl. The report of the meeting of the Council of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria held on 6 February 1886 includes 'The council beg to acknowledge, with thanks, the receipt of three mallee hens from Mr. Peter Beveridge, of Swan hill'(Argus, 7 February 1886, p. 6).

You are really overkind. The gums & resins will also be most acceptable & shall be exhibited in your name, together with the fibres.

4

Probably offers of specimens of natural products for the Intercolonial Exhibition of Australia, 1866-7, for which M was one of the Commissioners. Beveridge exhibited many items including gum, resin and fibre; see Intercolonial Exhibition of Australia (1867), Catalogue, pp. 16-17.

We do not intend to abandon the Leichhardt search,

5

The Ladies' Leichhardt Search Expedition. The expedition had been beset with difficulties caused by drought; see M to 'a friend in Sydney', September 1865 (in this edition as 65-09-00a) (B65.09.03).

if we can avoid it