Joseph Burke (12 June 1812 Bristol, England - 23 January 1873 Harrisonville, USA) was a collector of plants and animals for Lord Derby. Bristol ( ˈbrɪstəl is a city, Unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London Harrisonville is a city in Cass County, Missouri, United States. Edward Smith-Stanley 13th Earl of Derby KG ( 21 April 1775 &ndash 30 June 1851) styled Lord Stanley from 1776 to 1832
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1839-1840
Burke left London on the vessel "Joanna" in December 1839 and arrived in Cape Town in March 1840. From here he went on to "Vygekraal" (about 3km SE of Table Bay), the home of Rev. Table Bay ( Afrikaans Tafelbaai) is a natural inlet overlooked by Cape Town (founded 1652 and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula which stretches Fry and an agent of Lord Derby. Here he arranged for a wagon and oxen to transport him, and set out on 23 May to Uitenhage where he planned to meet up with Karl Zeyher for a joint expedition to the interior. Uitenhage is a South African town in the Eastern Cape Province. Karl Ludwig Philipp Zeyher 2 August, 1799 Dillenburg, Hesse Germany - 13 December, 1858 Cape Town, was a botanical A smallpox outbreak in Cape Town caused usually hospitable farmers along the way to bar their homes to visitors, creating accommodation problems for Burke. Exasperated by the slow progress of his wagon, he left it in the vicinity of the Swartberg and went ahead on foot. The Swartberg mountains ( black mountain in Afrikaans) make up a Mountain range that runs roughly east-west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Arriving in Uitenhage, he found that Zeyher had not prepared for the expedition, and that supplies that were to have been sent to Algoa Bay, had not arrived. Algoa Bay is a wide inlet along the South African east coast some 425 miles (683 kilometres east of the Cape of Good Hope. Chafing at the delay, Burke returned to Cape Town on 2 August with some animals that Zeyher had obtained for Lord Derby, and arrived back in Algoa Bay on 27 August. Here he awaited the arrival of his supplies which eventually landed on 9 November. At last on 17 November 1840, the expedition, which consisted of a train of three wagons, set out from Uitenhage and went north, arriving at Cradock on 3 December. Cradock is a town of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, in the upper valley of the Great Fish River, 181 mi From here they crossed the Great Fish River and reached the Orange River on 19 December. The Great Fish River (called great to distinguish from the Namibian Fish River) is a river running through the South African province of the The Orange River ( Afrikaans / Dutch: Oranjerivier) Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in The Caledon River, which was in spate on Christmas Day, could only be crossed on 29 January 1841, and then only by way of dismantling all the wagons and ferrying them across piecemeal. The Caledon River, or Mohokare in Sesotho, is located in south-east Africa rising in the Drakensberg Mountains in Lesotho.
1841
They reached Thaba Nchu on 15 February 1841 and continued north across the Vet River Difficulties with the purchase of horses delayed their departure until mid-April. Thaba Nchu is a black largely Tswana and Sotho dominated town just 60km east of Bloemfontein. Crossing the Sand and Vals Rivers, they reached Kroonstad where they spent some days collecting and preserving birds. The town of Kroonstad, the third-largest town in Free State province of South Africa, lies two hours drive from Gauteng. On 8 May they reached the Vaal River, and were prevented from crossing it until 17 May, by severe snow and rain on 13 May. This is for the river for the extraterrestrial robot deity see The Apple (Star Trek The Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange Continuing north they made their way to the Magaliesberg entering the Magalies River catchment on 31 May. The Magaliesberg is a Mountain range extending from Pretoria in the north of the Gauteng Province to a point south of The Magalies River valley was teeming with game, and they spent 2 weeks shooting and skinning a large variety of mammals and birds, including hippopotamus, black rhino, eland, zebra, kudu, waterbuck and wildebeest. The hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus amphibius) from the Greek ἱπποπόταμος ( hippopotamos, ιππος hippos meaning "horse" The Black Rhinoceros ( Diceros bicornis) also colloquially Black Rhino, is a species of Rhinoceros, native to the eastern and central areas of Africa The common eland ( Taurotragus oryx, also known as the southern eland) is a savannah and Plains Antelope found in East and Zebras are African Equids best known for their distinctive white and black stripes Kudu is an alternate spelling for kuzu the Japanese word for the plant Kudzu. The Waterbuck ( Kobus ellipsiprymnus) is an Antelope found in Western, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa On June 12 they reached the Crocodile River near Hartebeespoort and added to their collection buffalo, tsessebe and crocodile. The African Buffalo or Cape Buffalo ( Syncerus caffer) is a large African bovid. The Common Tsessebe ( Damaliscus lunatus) is a Savannah and Floodplain antelope found in Northern Botswana Eastern Angola Northeastern Namibia Zambia The Nile crocodile ( Crocodylus niloticus) is an African Reptile of the family Crocodylidae. By now Burke felt that his collection was sufficiently representative and that his wagons were close to capacity. They set off on a trip to the salt pan near Pretoria about two days away. Tswaing is a Meteorite crater in South Africa. The crater exposed at the surface 1 Here they encountered giraffe and a number of birds not previously seen. The giraffe ( Giraffa camelopardalis) is an African Even-toed ungulate Mammal, the tallest of all land-living Animal Species Burke described the country as grassveld densely covered with Acacia and other species as far as the eye could see. They had arrived at the southernmost extension of African savanna in the interior. Burke left the salt pan on 7 August and returned to their Magaliesberg camp, and on 24 August headed west to Marikana and Sterkstroom. They followed this stream north as far as its junction with the Crocodile River, which they reached on 29 August, and at which place they shot their first white rhino. The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum) is one of the five species of Rhinoceros that still exist and is one of the few They followed the Crocodile further north to the Pienaars River confluence, reaching the most northerly point of their expedition. Burke recorded that the area was teeming with rhino and lion; they made camp here and stayed for several weeks, collecting numerous specimens and live young animals. On 26 October they broke camp and moved east, following the Pienaars River, almost to the salt pan they had visited previously. They thereupon returned to their camp in the Magaliesberg and on 17 November received a visit from the Swedish naturalist Wahlberg, who had journeyed up from Port Natal. Johan August Wahlberg ( 9 October 1810 Lagklarebäck, Sweden - 6 March 1856 Lake Ngami, Bechuanaland) was a Durban (eThekwini is the third most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the EThekwini metropolitan municipality. They made a few minor excursions before starting on the return journey on 14 December 1841. Following the course of the Magalies River upstream, they reached Potchefstroom on 26 December and came across an Erythrina (most probably E. Potchefstroom is an Academic city hosting the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (previously known as Potchefstroom University zeyheri Harv. ) in full flower. This species is remarkable in that it is in effect an underground tree which only appears above ground during the flowering season, spending the winter months in a state of dormancy.
1842
Making good progress, they crossed the Vaal River on 1 January 1842 and the Orange River on 4 February. From here they deviated from their outward route and travelled west to Colesberg, where they arrived on 18 February. Striking further west, they reached Klein Tafelberg on 4 March and Beaufort West by 9 April. Along the Gamka River, Burke captured several eland and noted that some of his other animals had died. They crossed the Dwyka River on 3 May and the Hex River Pass on 22 May and were back at Vygekraal on 7 June, almost two and a half years after landing at Table Bay. Both collectors were commemorated in numerous specific names of plants, and Burke by the genus Burkea Hook. , one of the most beautiful Transvaal trees.
Burke sailed for England in July 1842, taking back an "immense collection of living and dead animals and dried plants, seeds, bulbs etc"; the plant specimens finding their way to Kew. Burke married in England in December 1842 and later settled in the United States. He subsequently went on a joint expedition with collectors from Kew to Hudson Bay and California. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean.
References
- "Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa" Mary Gunn and LE Codd (Balkema 1981) ISBN 0 86961 129 1
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