August 31st [186]51
Sir
I have the honor by direction of the Council of the Acclimatisation Society to bring under your notice the reports which have appeared in the newspapers from time to time to the effect that one of the camels sent out with the Leichardt2 search party has been drowned and a second left behind in consequence of having become lame and to request that you will be good enough to inform the Council whether you have any official knowledge of these facts.3
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your most Obedt Servant
Geo Sprigg
Secy
To Dr Mueller F.R.S.
&c &c &c
editorial addition.
i.e. Leichhardt.
'I have had to leave one of the young camels hopelessly lame at Mr. Officer's station. One of our good pack camels got drowned on the night of the 31st July, apparently by his having slipped accidentally down a steep bank of the river and then become entangled in snags at the bottom' (letter from James Murray to 'the Ladies committee of the Leichhardt Search Expedition', 2 August 1864, from Pooncurie, Darling River, NSW, published in Argus, 17 August 1865, p. 4, and in other Vic, NSW and Qld newspapers. The Argus introduced the letter by stating 'Dr. Mueller has forwarded to us the following:'. The letter was otherwise a favourable report on the work of the expedition members.
Please cite as “FVM-65-08-31,” 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