Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 2.djvu/254

 COAT OF AUSTRALIA. 233 Scienti attnlnments in the field of botany are well and wideIy known. It is to be hoped, however; th/t the few subjects offered to the scientific world in the appendix through the kind- ness of my friends, will 'not be thought un- interesting or unimportant; and that they will erve to shew'how very desirable i is to in crease he comparatively slender knowledge that we possess of this extensive country, which in this resp.ect might still with propriety retain its ancient name of Terra Australis Incognita. Whilst this sheet was going through the press; accounts were received at the Admiralty from Captain J. G. Bremer, C.B. of H. M. Ship Tamar, who was despatched-by the government in the early part of last year, (1824,) to take possession of Arabem's Land, upon the north coast of the continent, and to form an establish- ment upon the most eligible spot that could be found for a mercantile depSt. Of the proceedings of this expedition, the following particulars have been communicated to me by Lieutenant J. S Roe, my former companion and assistant, who was appointed lieutenant of the Tamar upon her being destined for that service; and which, as the sequel of the voyage I have been describing, cannot be deemed irrelevant or uninteresting, since the place fixed upon by Captain Bremer

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