Dear Dr Ellery. —
There are no horses lost by Landsborough in his S. W. expedition from the Gulf of Carpentaria. Hence if the two L’s are of the party to which the horses belonged, it could not be marks of Landsborough. May there not be some mistake as regards the distance from the Gulf of Carpentaria?
It will interest you to learn that Mr. Gregory told Mr. Giles1 of the discovery of other trees marked L at or about the Alice River.2 So would it not be well for you to publish the telegram?
Regardfully yours,
Ferd. Mueller.
December 15.
Ernest Giles.
Qld.
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'A voice from the Interior', Argus, 16 December 1864, p. 5 (B64.12.01). The letter is reproduced along with a telegram to the Secretary of the Royal Society of Victoria from Duncan M’Intyre stating that ‘Found between Burke and Sturt tracks about 200 miles from Carpentaria, two old horses, and saw very old tracks of a party going south-west; also two trees marked L about fifteen years old.’ The correspondence was also published in Sydney morning herald, 22 December 1864, p. 5 (B64.12.02), and elsewhere.
Please cite as “FVM-64-12-15a,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on