Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Leichhardt's Last Letter', Sydney mail and New South Wales advertiser, 27 March 1880, p. 600 (B80.03.09). Notwithstanding the heading, a few later letters of Leichhardt's are included in Aurousseau (1968), which also includes (vol. 3, pp. 987-96) the original German text of the letter translated by M and a different English translation. M himself had previously published a translation of part of the letter in the Daily telegraph (Melbourne) (see B74.02.09) that was reprinted in a number of other newspapers (see list in the entry for B74.02.03); where the two overlap, that translation differs in many choices of phrase from the version given here. M did not make the 1866 translation of this letter that has often been attributed to him; see Darragh (2018).

Sir, —

The name of Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt being so extensively identified with the territory of Australia, and the recent revelations concerning the fate of one of his party having awakened a new and such deep sympathy with him and his followers, I feel convinced that the following translation of a letter of his, the last written to his relatives in Germany (and addressed to his brother-in-law, Herr Carl Schmalfuss, of Cuttbuss

2

Cottbus, Prussia.

), will prove of interest to you and many of the readers of your widely circulating journal—more especially so, as it sheds some additional light on the intentions and plans of the last explorer.

Melbourne, March 18.

Darling Downs, 22nd February, 1848.

My dear Brother-in-law, —

Four months have passed by since I informed you of my return from the Peak Ranges. I have devoted this time to the equipment for a new journey, and shall be ready in a few days to penetrate once more into the interior of Australia, and, if God gives me strength, to cross the whole continent. I have endeavoured to obtain good capable men, and I believe that Classen will be very suitable for my undertaking, although a land-journey is very different from even the most onerous sea-voyage. Another friend, Mr. Hentig, has joined me also. I have hired three labouring men, and take two blacks with me, one of whom accompanied me on my last journey. The whole company therefore consists of seven, and I hope that this number will be quite sufficient. I have at present 20 mules, 7 horses, 50 head of cattle, 20 of which were presented to me by Mr. Robinson, and 30 by the Governor, Sir Ch. Fitzroy, who has shown himself most favourable to my undertaking, and who made me this present without my asking for it.

I informed you that Mr. Kennedy had been sent out by the Government to follow down to its mouth the Victoria River (the Barcoo) which Sir Thomas Mitchell had seen on his expedition, but which he had not thoroughly explored. Mr. Kennedy has returned, and has noticed that the river turns to the south, is lost in Sturt's desert, and probably identical with Cooper's Creek, which Captain Sturt mentions in his expedition. I am therefore again alone in the field, and believe that I shall be able to solve many interesting questions, if I am only fortunate enough to skirt the northern end of the desert.

I left Sydney in December, after I had made all my purchases. A journey to the Hunter River, on which I visited several friends, took me about a week. Next I repaired to Captain King, at Port Stephens, in order to repeat some obversations for determining elevations above the level of the sea by the aid of my barometers; then I bought six fresh mules, and travelled on way of New England (where I received twenty cattle) to my present abode, the hospitable house of Mr. Fr. Braker, a sheep-farmer, from Mecklenburg. I was scarcely under roof and shelter, when the heavy rains set in, which in this part of the colony characterise the end of January and February. The colony had suffered severely from drought: but the sudden cold rain does even more harm than the drought to the flocks of New England, exposed as they are to the cold night air after having recently been shorn. It is said that 100,000 sheep died in the colony during the rainy season. I witnessed myself the death of 800 in one night, while a flock of 1000 crowded into stables and dwellings seeking shelter, fearing neither men nor dogs. As soon as the rain was over, and already during the downpour, all nature revived, after having appeared almost dead to the wearied eye, in its monotonous yellow of dried-up herbage, and the loveliest sunny green clothed the open forest and the treeless pastures. This sudden transition from an almost complete suspension of vegetable life and of tristful inertness of nature to the most luxuriant vegetation and superabundant insect-life reminds an eye-witness of Humboldt's description of the savannahs at the beginning of the rainy season.

As soon as the heaviest showers were over, and creeks and rivers had again become passable, I commenced to collect in Rosenthal, at Mr. Braker's, all my things, which had been scattered all over Darling Downs. I also looked about me for some men, whom I wished to take with me. Thus I have been engaged during the last month, almost always in the saddle, and frequently quite exhausted. To-morrow, or the day after, my provisions will probably arrive here, and that would enable me to make a start from here next Monday, the 28th February.

I had the pleasure to learn that the Geographical Society of London has honoured me with one of its medals, and that the Geographical Society of Paris had conferred on me the same honour. Of course, I feel pleased that such clever men should consider one worthy of such distinction. Still I have not laboured for glory, but for the sake of science—and for science alone—and shall continue to do so, even if no one in the wide world should trouble himself about me. I should fear to lose the blessing of providence, were I to give myself up to vanity, and infuse into my quiet and laborious pursuit of science and ambitious striving after recognition and celebrity.

Mr. Durando, of Paris, wrote to me that the scant remains of my botanical collection had arrived safely, and that Mr. Decaisne was engaged in their examination. Though my dried plants may not be suitable for determining new species, they will yet be interesting and useful for the geography of the plants of New Holland. I have been very unfortunate with my seeds, as our establishments here are not suited for growing tropical plants. Perhaps you will ask me why I have not presented my collections to one of the museums of my own country. It is because in my youth I was not in such amiable relation with any naturalists among my countrymen as to have made it my duty to consider them first. Durando was a botanist, and my very intimate friend; his circumstances were depressed, and I wished to give him an opportunity to distinguish himself, should my collections prove to be really of value. This friendly feeling towards Durando induced me to send my collections to him, and not to an English or German botanist. However, Durando has neither sufficient time nor self-confidence to undertake the task, and has therefore handed them over to Mr. Decaisne, who always was kind and obliging to me. I had the good fortune to receive yet copies of my journal, and of my maps before my departure. The maps are very fine, and I am greatly obliged to Mr. Arrowsmith for having brought my rough sketches to such perfection. I leave it to others to judge of my book; it is a simple narrative of our journey, and just as simple a description of the country and the objects which I saw. If a traveller is but truthful, scientific men at home will be grateful. He cannot make insignificant objects in nature grand, nor describe the low ridges of Australia like the gigantic Cordilleras of America. I have never aimed at making a great show, and I scarcely considered it worth my while to describe our kangaroo and emu hunts in the glowing language of a poetic sportsman. The public appears to have received the book well; at least it has been favourably criticised in the public journals. Some annoying misprints I should very much like to correct, and if Francesca really intends to translate the book, I should advise her to communicate with Mr. Boone, in London, to whom I intend to send a list of the misprints.

Although I feel quite strong enough to commence this new long journey, yet I cannot deny that my constitution has suffered a great deal, especially on my last expedition, and I do not possess nearly the muscular strength which I had when I started 4 years ago on my first long tour. I suffer especially from palpitation of the heart, which causes me at times not a little anxiety. However,

'Thou must risk, be pushing ever,

Fate else never spends its grant;

Wonders — less my own endeavour —

Lead me to the wonderous land!'

3

A footnote is indicated by an asterisk at this point, as follows: 'English version by Baron Von Mueller, from a beautiful passage from Schiller, quoted by Leichhardt in his letter.' The quotation is from Schiller's 'Sehnsucht'. In M's 1874 translation of Leichhardt's letter (see n. 1 above), the verse is given in the original German, as follows, being introduced by 'The letter concludes with these untranslatable beautiful stanzas from Schiller':

Du must wetten, du must wagen,

Denn die Gotter leihn kein pfand

Nur ein Wunder kanndich tragen

In das schone Wunderland.

I hope that my letters, &c. &c.

Ludwig Leichhardt.

I wish I could bring you one of my two blacks. He is a most useful and good-natured boy, by no means so wild as the blacks of my first expedition. His name is Jimmy, or Wommay, or Killaati. The other one is less useful, but both have an extremely sharp eyesight, which makes them especially serviceable to me.

4

The postscript paragraph is Leichhardt’s.

Very possibly it is this aboriginal of whom Mr. Arthur Macdonald, in June, 1878, heard at an eastern affluent of the Victoria River, in long. 131° 10, and lat. 15° 40, when some natives were eager to conduct that gentleman to their camp, then within sight, to see "Whitefellow's Jimmy," — as recorded in the Sydney Mail of the 6th of this month.