Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/20

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HISTORY OF

fully described by Solander at the time of collection, and coloured drawings prepared of many of the species. Little additional labour was therefore required to prepare the results for publication. Evidently Banks intended that this should be done, for at his own expense he had 700 plates engraved on copper, and Solander's manuscript descriptions were revised and systematically arranged. The New Zealand portion, which was entitled "Primitiæ Floræ Novæ Zealandiæ," contained descriptions of nearly 360 species, illustrated by over 200 plates, and was practically ready for the press. Why it was not actually published is by no means clear, but the suggestion has been made that publication was at first delayed by the preparations made by Banks and Solander to accompany Cook in his second voyage, a project which was ultimately abandoned; and that a more serious interruption was caused by Solander's somewhat sudden death in 1782. After his companion's decease. Banks became more and more occupied with his duties as President of the Royal Society, and as an organizer and promoter of scientific research, and the idea of publication appears to have been abandoned. As stated in the preface, a type-written copy of Solander's descriptions and a set of impressions from the plates have been liberally furnished by the Trustees of the British Museum for use in the preparation of this work. Of their scientific value I cannot speak too highly; and it is a matter for regret that they were not presented to the world 125 years ago. It is, however, some satisfaction to know that the botanical results of the whole voyage are now, after this long delay, being issued under the auspices of the British Museum, and under the careful editing of Mr. Britten.

On the 9th April, 1772, Cook left England for his second voyage, the expedition consisting of two ships, the "Resolution" under his own command, and the "Adventure" under that of Captain Furneaux. John Reinhold Forster and his son George Forster, both well-known botanists, accompanied him in the capacity of naturalists, and were joined at the Cape of Good Hope by Dr. Sparrmann, also a botanist of repute, and a former pupil of Linnaeus. After several months had been spent in an unsuccessful search for a southern continent, Cook made sail for the south of New Zealand. During the voyage he was accidentally separated from the "Adventure," and failing to rejoin her put into Dusky Sound, the entrance to which had been noticed in his first voyage. He remained there from the 26th March, 1773, to the 1st May, mainly for the purpose of refitting, and to give his crew a rest after the months of incessant buffeting experienced in high southern latitudes. During his stay many boat voyages were made to various parts of the Sound, and a careful survey was made of it. The two Forsters devoted much of their time to botanizing, but their collections were by no means so large as might have been expected, considering what a productive locality Dusky Sound has