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Parramatta New South Wales August 18th 1804
Sir
I have sent to you by the Albion Whaler a package. It contains 2 small boxes; in one of which are 60 skins of birds, & the skins of 2 small species of Kangaroos; in the other are specimens of plants; 40 papers of seeds put in loosely which were gathered at Hunter's river; 15 more papers packed up together; 47 pages of the descriptions of plants, gathered at Hunter's river; 84 pages of the descriptions of plants gathered in the Colony &c; and 81 pages of ditto. These last I sent long ago by a Capt. Macheller who is supposed to be lost. The descriptions are copied verbatim from the original rude ones. The skins are by no means good ones, by being much infested with moths; and many of them are duplicates, & much as I have sent before. Had it not been for these destructive vermin, I should have sent you an excellent collection. A deal of skins I have had totally destroyed, & what is still more grieving they were the most valuable, by being uniques & such as I had never sent before. I can assure you the above loss has vexed me much, & at times I have thought not to collect any more, for what can be more disheartening the trouble that one has in shooting them, & when skinned the difficult & pains that are required to keep them from being destroyed by flies, and after all, when one thinks the skins are compleatly cured to have them devoured by the larvae of moths - I begin now to think that
Feb 14 05