suing his investigations in the field where he had already won so much distinction. To his brother Samuel, in a letter of October, 1807, he wrote:[1] "You know my intention of completing the examination of Australia as soon as the Admiralty will give me a ship. My intentions are still the same, and the great object of my present studies is to render myself more capable of performing the task with reputation." He cogitated a scheme for exploring the interior of Australia "from the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria to the head of the great gulf on the south coast," i.e., Spencer's Gulf. "In case of being again sent to Australia I should much wish that this was part of my instructions." Much as he longed to see his friends in England, work, always work, scope for more and more work, was his dominating passion. "Should a peace speedily arrive," he told Banks (March, 1806), "and their Lordships of the Admiralty wish to have the north-west coast of Australia examined immediately, I will be ready to embark in any ship provided for the service that they may choose to send out. My misfortunes have not abated my ardour in the service of science." If there was work to do, he would even give up the chance of going home before commencing it. "In the event of sending out another Investigator immediately after the peace, probably Lieutenant Fowler or my brother might be chosen as first lieutenant to bring her out to me." He spoke of directing researches to the Fiji Islands and the South Pacific. Rarely has there been a man so keen for the most strenuous service, so unsparing of himself, so eager to excel.
Occasionally in the letters and journals appear lively descriptions of life at Wilhelm's Plains. The following is a tinted vignette of this kind: "In the evening
- ↑ Flinders' Papers.
