15/1/93.
Gestern, hochgeehrter Herr Professor, langte Ihr Brief vom 5. Dec. hier an, und habe ich sogleich an Mr C. Moore, den Director des Sydney botanischen Gartens geschrieben, bittend dass er Herrn Bergendorf nach der Ankunft des "Norden" mit Rath und That beistehe, zumal da Zamia Stämme und Früchte sowie viel Anderes in der Vegetation von NS Wales existirt, was so weit südlich wie Victoria nicht vorkommt. So wie ich höre, dass das Schiff in Sidney angekommen sei, werde ich mich sogleich mit Herrn Bergendorf schriftlich in Verbindung setzen, um zu sehen, wie weit ich ihm sonst nützlich sein kann. Wollen Sie so freundlich sein, Herrn Prof. Areschoug zu versichern, dass ich Alles thun will, was ich kann, für die Förderung dieses Unternehmens, obwohl hier bei den jetzigen enormen Einschränkungen ich selbst wohl wenig beitragen kann. Mr Moore hat ein botanisches Museum im Garten, so dass er sicher manches Überzählige ablassen kann. Er steht auch im N.S.W. Dienst freier wie wir hier.
Sie stets ehrend,
der Ihre
Ferd. von Mueller
15/1/93.
Yesterday, highly esteemed Professor, your letter of 5 December arrived here,1 and I have written immediately to Mr C. Moore, the director of the Sydney Botanical Garden,2 asking that he advise and assist Mr Bergendorf3 after the arrival of the Norden,4 especially since Zamia trunks and fruits as well as many other things exist in the vegetation of New South Wales that do not occur as far south as Victoria. As soon as I hear that the ship has arrived in Sydney, I will immediately put myself in communication with Mr Bergendorf by letter5 to see how far I can be otherwise useful to him. Would you be so kind as to assure Professor Areschoug6 that I shall do everything that I can for the promotion of this undertaking, although here with the present enormous reductions I can probably contribute little myself. Mr Moore has a botanical museum in the garden, so that he certainly can spare some superfluous items. He is also freer in the New South Wales service than we here.
Always respectfully
Your
Ferd. von Mueller
Zamia
Letter not found.
Letter not found.
There is an undated letter addressed from Yap, Micronesia by an Ernst J. Andersson Bergendorff (1870-?), 'fil. kand', in the Otto Nordstedt collection, University Library, Lund. It is possibly this letter that is reported in the Lund news in Skaffaren (St Paul, Minnesota, USA), 14 February 1894, p. 3; the article describes the difficult voyage on Norden (see below) and outlines Bergendorff's plans for collecting on Yap and adjacent small islands before returning home. No further information concerning Bergendorff has been found.
The barque Norden sailed from Hamburg on 25 November 1892. The vessel arrived in Sydney on 3 May 1893 after being badly damaged by fierce storms and the loss of one seaman in the Southern Ocean in late March (Daily telegraph (Sydney), 4 May 1893, p. 7).
No such letter has been found.
Presumably F. W. C. Areschoug (1830-1908), successor to Agardh as professor of botany at Lund. The undertaking to which M refers has not been identified.
Please cite as “FVM-93-01-15,” 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