# Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 6/Second Journey to the Northwestern Parts of the Continent of North America during the Years 1829-30-31-32-33

SECOND JOURNEY TO THE NORTHWESTERN
PARTS OF THE CONTINENT OF
NORTH AMERICA
DURING THE YEARS 1829-'30-'31-'32-'33.
By David Douglas, F.L.S.
Reprinted from "The Companion to the Botanical Magazine," Volume II, London, 1836.
V.
ACCOUNT OF MR. DOUGLAS' SECOND VISIT TO THE COLUMBIA; HIS EXCURSIONS IN CALIFORNIA.
Productive as was the first mission of Mr. Douglas to the western shores of North America, the second was undertaken under far more favourable auspices. He had acquired knowledge of the most valuable kind—that gained by experience, and often, as has been seen in the preceding part of the memoir, by dear-bought experience:—he was well acquainted with the language and customs of the various tribes of people on the Columbia and its tributaries; and, in addition to his familiarity with the several branches of Natural History, he had profited so much by the able instructions of Capt. Sabine, that he could not fail to make observations in other departments of Science, especially such as should bear upon magnetic and atmospheric phenomena, and on the Geography of the countries he would visit. Hence it was that the Colonial Office, at the suggestion of Capt. Sabine, supplied him with an excellent set of instruments, and I may here remark that the result of these investigations, communicated to the Colonial Office from time to time, as well as to Capt. Sabine, has been duly appreciated by the latter ​gentleman, and will, at no distant period, be laid before the public.
The expenses of this mission were, in great part, to have been defrayed by the Horticultural Society of London, of which Mr. Sabine was still Secretary; but when those changes took place in that Institution, the particulars of which are familiar to all who have felt an interest in the success of Horticultural Botany in this country, and in consequence of which Mr. Bentham became the Honorary Secretary in the room of Mr. Sabine, Mr. Douglas wrote from the Columbia resigning his appointment as Collector to the Society and he withdrew altogether from its service; sending to it, however, at the same time, all the collections he had made up to that period, but declaring his intention, nevertheless, to transmit all seeds and living plants he might procure, as a present to the Garden. This determination, which arose from some misunderstanding is deeply to be regretted, not only because we know, from our acquaintance with Mr. Bentham's character and feelings upon the subject, that this gentleman would have exerted himself to the uttermost to further Mr. Douglas' success: but because to this circumstance may perhaps be attributed the loss of nearly the whole of his Journals. To that Society, during the former expedition, they were from time to time carefully despatched; but now there was no one to whom he was bound to communicate the result of his investigations and labours: and with the remnant of his collection, sent home after his death, no Journal has appeared, save that of his Voyage from the Columbia to the Sandwich Islands and the Ascent of Mouna Roa.
All I have to offer, therefore, respecting his excursions in the Hudson's Bay territories and in California, where he reaped such a glorious harvest of plants, must be collected from his letters to his friends; and these almost ​exclusively from what he sent to the writer of this article, to whom he appears to have opened his mind more confidently, and to have been more full in point of matter, than to almost any other of his correspondents, some of whom have kindly permitted a perusal of their letters. The first I had the happiness to receive from him was dated—
   Entrance to the River Columbia, October 11, 1830.
   How much do I feel indebted to you for your long and kind letter of Christmas-day, 1829! I received it two months ago, four days after I had left my headquarters for an extensive journey in the Cordilleras of New Albion, and what a stimulus it was to me! Situated as I am, without any one of kindred feelings, to share my labours and my toils and anxiety, such a letter makes all one's troubles seem light! I should indeed be delighted to have such a companion as the gentleman whom you describe, and whom I have hitherto only known by report. More than ten times as much could be effected by the united exertions of two.
   I must now pass from London to Oahu, in the Sandwich Islands, all in one line! The ship touched nowhere on the eastern shore of South America, which to me was a great loss and disappointment, for I had anticipated much advantage from researches made on that continent and the Islands of the South Seas. It was not my fortune to climb the snowy peak of Mouna Kaah, the highest ground in the known world, in that system of mountains; nor could I get to Mouna Roa, which at this instant is dreadfully agitated by volcanic fires, and has the largest crater ever seen by mortal eyes; but I did what was of more service to Botany, in scaling the lofty and rugged peaks of Mouna Parrii, the seat of the great Akua, or God of Fire. The season was unfavourable, very rainy, and being just the conclusion of winter, I could only obtain Mosses and Ferns. I hope yet to visit this place again under more favourable circumstances. I am most desirous of collecting materials for a Flora of this groupe, and think that one season, spent in botanizing among them, with the aid of the Banksian Herbarium, might effect this object. The culminating points offer almost an unrivalled field for studying the Geography of Plants from the Line of Palms to that of the Lichens. I was delighted with the people and with the kind treatment I received, especially from those individuals who had formed part of his late Majesty Riho-Riho's suite when he visited Britain. Madame Boki, the Governess of the Island, entertained me splendidly. I possess copies of all the books that had been published in Oahu, and the other Islands, splendidly bound in tortoise-shell for your library, but have at present no convenient op​portunity of sending them. The printing and all the workmanship is done by the islanders themselves. I arrived here on the 3d of June, in eight months from|London; the passage was very pleasant, as a fine, gentlemanly person. Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, was Captain. The lateness of my arrival, for it was the first of July before I could leave the coast for the Interior, has been a very serious drawback; the season proving unusually early, all the vernal plants, which are by far the most numerous, beautiful, and curious here, were withered and decayed. It took me twenty-four days of hard labour to reach a very lofty chain of mountains on which I was in July 1826; I again found my Poenia (P. Brownii, Dougl. in Hook. Fl. Bor. Am., v. I, p. 27), and including all my labours, there are, I should think, fully one hundred new species, and perhaps some new genera, though I have yet only determined one, which is akin to Œnothera.
   I have now just saved the sailing of the ship, and, after sixty days of severe fatigue, have undergone as I can assure you, one of still more trying labour, in packing up three chests of seeds, and writing to Mr. Sabine and his brother. The Captain only waits for this letter, after which the ship bears away for Old England. I am truly sorry to, see her go without my dried plants, but this is unavoidable, as I have not a bit of well-seasoned wood in which to place them, and should, moreover, be unwilling to risk the whole collection in one vessel; and the sails are already unfurled, so that it would be impossible to attempt dividing them. I, however, transmit one bundle of six species, exceedingly beautiful, of the genus Pinus. Among these, P. nobilis is by far the finest. I spent three weeks in a forest composed of this tree, and day by day could not cease to admire it; in fact, my words can be only monotonous expressions of this feeling. I have added one new species during this journey, P. grandis, a noble tree, akin to P. balsamea, growing from one hundred and seventy to two hundred feet in height. In the collection of seeds, I have sent an amazing quantity of all the kinds. Your specimens are in every way perfect. I have a few Mosses and a considerable number of Fuel: this is a department in which I fear the Flora will be deficient; but as I am to spend this winter entirely on the coast, you may expect to receive all that are found within the parallels of the British possessions on the Pacific side of this Continent. I have already preserved some beautiful specimens of this tribe for the use of your lectures, the principal of which is Fucus Lutkeanus of Mertens, the one which you may remember my endeavouring to describe to Mr. Dawson Turner (the author of the Historia Fucorum).
   On the direction of my next year's route, I am not yet decided; but my desire is to prosecute my journey in north California, in the ​Valley of Bona Ventura, through which a stream of considerable magnitude flows, and finally mingles its streams with the ocean in the Bay of Montérey. If I can venture thither in safety by land, I will do so; if not, I shall go by sea to Montérey. The southern termination on the map is the source of the river, and the spot where, in October, 1826, I had such a narrow escape from the hostile tribes who inhabit that country. Since that time, a party of hunters were all killed, save two, who returned to tell the melancholy fate of their companions; and again a second party has nearly shared the same fate. You may judge of my situation, when I say to you that my rifle is in my hand day and night; it lies by my side under my blanket when I sleep, and my faithful little Scotch terrier, the companion of all my journies, takes his place at my feet. To be obliged thus to accoutre myself is truly terrible. However, I fail not to do my best, and if unsuccessful in my operations can make my mind easy with the reflection that I used my utmost endeavours. My instruments are all excellent, and in the best order, and have already enabled me to make a multitude of important observations, which will go some way toward perfecting the Physical Geography of this part of the country, as well as illustrating its magnetic phenomena.
   In Zoology, I possess some valuable additions to the Fauna, consisting of quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, and insects, which, as well as the plants, must remain with me till next year.
   A dreadfully fatal intermittent fever broke out in the lower parts of this river about eleven weeks ago, which has depopulated the country. Villages, which had afforded from one to two hundred effective warriors are totally gone; not a soul remains. The houses are empty and flocks of famished dogs are howling about, while the dead bodies lie strewn in every direction on the sands of the river. I am one of the very few persons among the Hudson Bay Company's people that have stood it, and sometime I think even I have got a shake, and can hardly consider myself out of danger, as the weather is yet very hot.
   The ship which sailed along with us was totally wrecked on entering the Columbia River; I am happy to say, however, no lives were lost. To this vessel I had first been appointed and then changed to the one in which I came. But for this fortunate alteration, I should have lost ​my all; and think what a plight would mine have been on "Cape Disappointment," deprived of everything-. You will see the account of this disaster in the newspaper.
   Farewell. I am daily, in recollection, with you and your family, though so unfortunate as to be divided from you by half the diameter of the globe; still the thought of you affords me, in my lonely walks, an inexhaustible source of delight.
   I thank Mr. Murray and Dr. Scouler for their kind letters; to both I mean to write in the spring, and shall send some articles of Comparative Anatomy to the latter.
       To Dr. Hooker.
   Monterey, Upper California, Nov. 23, 1831.
   In the absence of all individuals with kindred feelings, who can participate in our pleasures and console us in adversity, how cheering is the task of writing to them, and more especially when we have been long deprived of their conversation, and severed by a space of no less than half the diameter of the world! Greater still, however, is the delight with which the solitary traveller hears of the welfare of those who are dear to his remembrance in his native land. I am not ashamed to say that this pleasure stimulates me to exertion and lightens my labour. Though I have not written to you since last year, I am daily with you in thought, and were it not that I sometimes persuade myself that my feeble exertions in this country may, ere long, yield pleasure to my friends in enabling them to look at its beautiful plants, I could gladly return home, to insure you in person of my regard.
   I have had only one letter from you, dated on "Christmas-day, 1829," for which I am abundantly thankful. From no other person have I received any news, and shall therefore trouble no one else with my scribbling.
   On the 22d of December last (1830) I arrived here by sea, from the Columbia, and obtained leave of the Territorial Government to remain for the space of six months, which has been nearly extended to twelve, as the first three months were occupied in negociating this affair, which was finally effected to my satisfaction. I shall now endeavour to give you a brief sketch of my walks in California.
   Upper California extends from the Port of St. Diego, lat. 32° 30' to lat. 43° N.. a space of six hundred and ninety miles from North to South. The interior is but partially known. Such parts of the country as I have seen are highly diversified by hills, covered with Oaks, Pines, Chestnuts, and Laurels, extensive plains, clothed with a rich sward of ​grass; but no large streams. Well does it merit its name! The heat is intense, and the dryness of the atmosphere invariable, 29° not unfrequently, which, if I mistake not, is not exceeded in Arabia or Persia. In this fine district how I lament the want of such majestic rivers as the Columbia! In the course of my travels on the western and northern parts of this continent, on my former as well as my present journey, I have observed that all mountainous countries, situated in a temperate climate, agitated by volcanic fires, and washed by mighty torrents which forms gaps or ravines in the mountains, lay open an inexhaustible field for the researches of the Botanist. Early as was my arrival on this coast, spring had already commenced; the first plant I took in my hand was Ribes speciosum, Pursh (Bot. Mag. t. 3530; Bot. Reg. t. 1557), remarkable for the length and crimson splendor of its stamens; a flower not surpassed in beauty by the finest Fuchsia; and for the original discovery of which we are indebted to the good Mr. Archibald Menzies, in 1779. The same day I added to my list Nemophila insignis (Bot. Reg. t. 1713; Bot. Mag. t. 3485), a humble, but lovely plant, the harbinger of Californian spring, which forms as it were a carpet of the tenderest azure hue. What a relief does this charming flower afford to the eye from the effects of the sun's reflection on the micaceous sand where it grows. These, with other discoveries of less importance, gave me hope. From time to time, I contrived to make excursions in this neighborhood, until the end of April, when I undertook a journey southward, and reached Santa Barbara, 34°25', in the middle of May, where I made a short stay, and returned late in June, by the same route, ococcasionally penetrating the mountain-valleys which skirt the coast. Shortly afterwards I started for San Francisco, and proceeded to the north of that port. My principal object was to reach the spot whence I returned in 1826, which I regret to say, could not be accomplished. My last observation was 38°45', which leaves an intervening blank of sixty-five miles. Small as this distance may appear to you, it was too much for me!
   My whole collection of this year in California, may amount to five hundred species, a little more or less. This is vexatiously small, I am aware, but when I inform you that the season for botanizing does not last longer than three months, your surprise will cease. Such is the rapidity with which spring advances, as on the tablelands of Mexico and the platforms of the Andes in Chili, the plants bloom here only for a day. The intense heat set in about June, when every bit of herbage was dried to a cinder. The facilities for travelling are not great, whereby much time is lost: this, as a matter of course, is the case in all new countries. It would require at least three years to do any​thing like justice to the Botany of California, and the expense is not the least of the drawbacks. At present it is out of my power to effect any thing further, and must content myself with particularizing the collection now made. Of new genera I am certain there are nineteen or twenty, at least, and I hope you will find many more. Most of them are highly curious. As to species, about three hundred and forty may be new. I have added a most interesting species to the genus Pinus Sabinii, one which I had first discovered in 1826, and lost, together with the rough notes, in crossing a rapid stream on my return Northward. When compared with many individuals of the genus inhabiting the western parts of this continent, its size is inconsiderable, from 110 to 140 feet high, and three to twelve feet in diameter. In the aqueous deposits on the western flanks of the Cordilleras of New Albion, at a very great elevation above the sea (1,600 feet below the line of perpetual snow), this Pine grows somewhat larger than in the more temperate parts near the coast in a more southern parallel. I sent to London a detailed account of this most beautiful tree, to be published in the Transactions of the Horticultural Society, which you will see before this can reach you, so that I will not trouble you with a further description of it. But the great beauty of California vegetation is a species of Taxodium, which gives the mountains a most peculiar, I was almost going to say awful, appearance something which plainly tells that we are not in Europe. I have never seen the Taxodium Nootkatensis of Ness, except some specimens in the Lambertain Herbarium, and have no work to refer to; but from recollection I should say, that the present species is different from it. I have repeatedly measured specimens of this tree 270 feet long and 32 feet around at three feet above the ground. Some few I saw, upwards of three hundred feet high; but none in which the thickness was greater than those I have instanced. I possess fine specimens and seeds also. I have doubled the genus Calochortus; C. luteus (Bot. Reg. t. 1567,) is especially deserving of attention, as the finest of all. To Mimulus I have also added several, among them the magnificent M. Cardinalis (Hort. Soc. Trans., N. S. v. II, p. 70, t. 3), an annual, three or four feet high, handsomer than M. luteus; Clarkia elegans (Bot. Reg. t. 1575,) is a pretty species, but hardly equal to C. pulchella; it grows to four or six feet, and has entire petals. It is to Gilia, Collomia Phlox, and Heuchera, that the greatest additions have been made: indeed, they are too numerous to mention. Something is also done among the Onagrarieœ. Besides the new genus (Zauschneria of Presl) alluded to by De Candolle in his Prodromus (vol. II, p. 35), as exhibiting the flower ​of Fuchsia and the fruit of an Epilobium, I possess another new genus, and a multitude of Œnotheras. Also four undescribed kinds of Pentstemon, two of which far exceed any of the known species, and are shrubs; and among the Papaveraceæ, two, if not three, new genera.
   One is frutescent, with a bifoliate calyx and four petals, it has the stamens of Papaver and the fruit of Eschsholtzia, with entire leaves. This is my Bichenovia, a plant worthy of the Botanist to whom I dedicate it, as he is worthy of it. The others are both annual and too curious for me to describe. By far the most singular and highly interesting plant here belongs to a genus, in some respects akin to Salvia; it is annual, and I have called it Wellsia after Mr. Wells of Redleaf in Kent (Audibertia incana, Benth. in Bot. Reg. t. 1469). This, with many others, I trust you may yet have the pleasure of describing from living specimens, as I have sent to London upwards of one hundred and fifty nondescript plants, which I hope will bloom next season. As I shall, if it please God, have the happiness of writing to you again shortly, I will, at present, only tell you of my projects. I am in daily expectation of a vessel from the Columbia, in which I shall embark to renew my labours in the North. Should she not arrive before the 10th of December, I will take my passage in an American vessel for the Sandwich Islands, where I shall not fail to endeavour to scale the lofty peaks of Mouna Roa or Mouna Kaah (the White or Snowy Mountain) in quest of Flora's treasures, and proceed to the North-west coast in the ensuing spring. I have met the Russian authorities twice since I last wrote to you and have received the utmost kindness from them. Two days ago I received a letter from Baron Wrangel, Governor of the Russian Possessions in America and the Aleutian Isles, full of compliments, and offering me all manner of assistance, backed by Imperial favour from the court. This nobleman is, as you are well aware, the Capt. Parry of Russia, keenly alive to the interests of Science and anxious to assist in every way, those who labour in this field.
   Since I began this letter, Dr. Coulter, from the Central States of the Republic of Mexico has arrived here, with the intention of taking all he can find to De Candolle at Geneva. He is a man eminently calculated to work, full of zeal, very amiable, and I hope may do much good to Science. As a salmon-fisher he is superior even to Walter Campbell, Esq., of Islay, the Izaak Walton of Scotland; besides being ​a beautiful shot with the rifle, nearly as successful as myself! And I do assure you, from my heart, it is a terrible pleasure to me thus to meet a really good man, and one with whom I can talk of plants.
   River Columbia, Oct. 23, 1832.
   Your truly welcome and highly-prized letter of Oct. 10, 1830, I had the pleasure to receive from Capt. Charlton, our Consul at Sandwich Islands, on my arrival at that place from the coast of California in August last. I esteem this mark of your regard as not the least of the many favours you have shown me. It affords me sincere delight to hear of the health of your family, and the great progress you have made in your publications, the improvement of the apartments in which you keep your collections, and the prodigious increase of your Herbarium. I carry your letter about in my notebook, and when on my walks by the side of some solitary creek, the idea not unfrequently occurs to me, that I may have overlooked some part of it, out comes your epistle for another perusal. Letters are, indeed, rare things to me in this part of the world.
   I have had no opportunity of writing to you since last year by any conveyance that might be considered safe. I did so from Montérey, in Upper California, in October, 1831, and sent it by way of Mexico, under the care of our Consul at the port of San Bias; there I detailed to you the extent of my travels in that territory, and the progress of my collections, as well as gave you a brief notice of the country. This letter I hope you would receive about New Year's Day 1832. The Hudson Bay Company's vessel did not arrive on the coast of California in November, as had been expected, which, in some measure, frustrated my projects. No opportunity having offered for proceeding, either to the Columbia or the Sandwich Islands in the winter or spring of last year. I continueed to consider California as still new to me, and set to work a second time finding new plants, and drying better specimens of those which I formerly possessed. I think that I added not less than one hundred and fifty undescribed species this year, including some new genera, which will bring up the entire amount of flowering plants to scarcely less than seven thousand distinct species. I might have effected more; but being in constant dread of a vessel arriving, and sailing without me, I could not venture to be absent more than fifteen or twenty days at a time from the coast; however, as I did my best, I try to feel content.
   ​I will now mention another new Pinus to you (P. Venusta,) which I discovered last March, on the high mountains of California (you will begin to think that I manufacture Pines at my pleasure). As my notes are not at hand, I must describe from memory.
   Leaves solitary, two-ranked, rigid, sharp-pointed, green above, glaucous beneath. Cone cylindrical, three to four inches long, four to six inches round, erect; scales orbicular, deciduous (like those of P. balsamea), with an entire bractea or appendage between the scales, exserted to three or four inches and a half! When on the tree, being in great clusters and at a great height withal, these cones resemble the inflorescence of a Banksia, a name which I should have liked to give the species, but that there is a Pinus Banksii already. This tree attains a great size and height, and is, on the whole, a most beautiful object. It is never seen at a lower elevation than six thousand feet above the level of the sea, in latitude 36°, where it is not uncommon.
   I saw for a second time, and in a new habitat, Pinus Lambertiana, more southerly on the mountains of Santa Lucia, in Upper Calfornia. Its cones were in fine condition, though perhaps a little too young and somewhat longer than those I had discovered further to the North in 1826. The timber in this new situation is the largest of all, but by no means so fine as that in the 43° and 45° of N. lat., where the temperature is doubtless more congenial to it. I have a host of new and beautiful plants; among them a fine perennial species of Delphinum, D. Cardinalis, with flowers as fine as those of Lychnis fulgens, and seven undescribed kinds of Calochortus, which make that noble genus to consist, in all, of twelve species [including Cyclobothrya. Ed.]
   Prom the Sandwich Islands, I shipped on board the Sarah and Elizabeth, a South Seaman of London, and bound for that port, nineteen large bundles of dry plants, in two chests, together with seeds, specimens of timber, etc. The Captain, a worthy little man, placed these articles in his own cabin, which gives great relief to my mind as to their safety. I have written to the Horticultural Society of London (should such exist), requesting the Council to permit four of the bundles of dried plants, destined "for. Dr Hooker of Glasgow," to be despatched without delay, and further " begging that they will permit me to transfer the publication of each and all these plants, saving those which the Society may consider as coming within their plans, to that gentleman, either for an Appendix to his Flora Boreali-Americana, or in any other works in which he may be engaged. No one is more ​able and willing to do the Society justice, while such a proceedingwould be peculiarly gratifying to me."
   Of the living plants of California, introduced to the Horticultural Society, besides the species of Pine, may be mentioned the following, which have flourished in the Chiswick Garden, or been published by Prof. Lindley and others:
   Plants introduced by Mr.Douglas in 1834.
   | Antirrhinum glandulosum. | Lasthenia glabrata. |
   | Audibertia incana. | Leptosiphon androsaceus. |
   | Bartonia aurea. | —— densiflorus. |
   | —— conferta. | Limnanthes Douglasii. |
   | Calochortus luteus. | Lupinus albifrons. |
   | —— splendens. | —— densiflorus. |
   | —— venustus. | —— latifolius. |
   | Calliprora lutea. | —— leptophyllus. |
   | Chelone centranthifolia. | —— nanus. |
   | Collinsia bicolor. | —— rivularis. |
   | Cyclobothrya alba. | Nemophila insignis. |
   | —— pulchella. | Œnothera densiflora. |
   | Douglasia nivalis. | —— tenella, var. albiflora. |
   | Escholtszia crocea. | Oxyura chrysanthemoides. |
   | Eutoca viscida. | Phacelia tanacetifolia. |
   | Garrya elliptica. | Pentstemon digitalifolium. |
   | Gilia achilleæfolia. | —— staticæfolium. |
   | —— coronopifolia. | Platystemon Californicum. |
   | —— tenuifolia. | Psoralea macrostachya. |
   | —— tricolor. | Ribes speciosum (first, however, introduced by Mr. Collie.) |
   | Godetia lepida. | Trifolium fucatum. |
   | —— rubicunda. | Triteleia laxa. |
   | —— venosa. | |
   | Lasthenia California. | |
   I have still at Fort Vancouver a good bundle of plants, perhaps about seventy species, which I shall try to send, through Mr. Garry, overland this spring, for publication with Mosses and Sea-weeds, so. that your Flora may be as complete as possible. At the Sandwich Islands a violent rheumatic fever prevented me from venturing at all to the hills during my short stay, and I sat and fretted enough about it. I have, indeed, had some hard work since I quitted England, of which I occasionally feel the effects, particularly in cold weather. Anxious that no time should be lost, I sailed from Monterey for those islands in an American vessel of forty-six tons burden, and had a passage of only nineteen days. What would have been thought, forty years ago, of passing over more than half of the great basin of the Pacific with such a craft? If steamboats and railroads are not in our way, we, poor wanderers, must take that what offers, sometimes good and sometimes bad. On my way to this river, and not far from its entrance, I had the pleasure to meet my old ship, the Eagle, and my old friend, Lieut. Grave, R.N., who handed me a parcel from Soho Square, containing the second and third parts of the Flora Boreali- Americana. ​Singular indeed it was that I should receive this, just in the nick of time, for had it not been for a kind unfavourable wind, which obliged my vessel to go considerably out of her way, I should have missed her, and of course lost the pleasure of a sight of the Flora. I can not really express how much I am obliged to you for writing to me. If it were not for your letters, and the information they convey, I should be utterly without news, for nobody else has sent me any.
   I left in California my friend Dr. Coulter, who will not, I trust, quit that country till he has accomplished every thing, for he is zealous and very talented. To De Candolle, who is his old tutor, he sends all his collections; and who can wonder at his giving him the preference? Dr. Coulter expects to be in England in the autumn of 1833; I have given him a letter of introduction to you.
   River Columbia, Oct. 24, 1832.
   This day brings me another proof of your goodness, for Dr. McLoughlin, Director of the Hudson's Bay Company, as soon as he learned of my arrival, kindly sent down the river to me several packages, among which was your friendly letter of July, 1831. Every thing you say gives me infinite pleasure, and adds to my comfort. I know not how to express my gratitude more earnestly than I did in the letter I wrote to you last night, to perform which I sat up till three o'clock this morning. I shall, without fail, replace your lost specimens of Pines; they were all plunged in warm water that their leaves might not fall off, a mode I always adopt with Cape Heaths but I fear they may have been heated or jumbled about in the vessel. I am glad you have set Mr. Drummond on his legs again, and hope he will do well. I shall write to the Rev. Narcisse Duran, the Prefect of the Order in Californa, an amiable and learned man, who will receive him kindly, and do him the most signal service. I shall write likewise to Mr. Hartnel, an English gentleman, in whose house I lived at Montérey, who will also aid him. I may have an opportunity of addressing some of the Principals of the American Pur Company, to several of whom I am personally known; they are generally intelligent and kind-hearted men, much disposed to be useful. This I can easily do; for I am regarded by them as half an American, having spent so many years in the New World.
   Mr. Garry is exceedingly kind to me; I have also received a long letter from Capt. Sabine, dated Charlemont Fort, Ireland, full of kindness. Nothing can be more gratifying to me than to be remembered ​by old friends after the lapse of so many months, and when so far apart. Capt. Sabine goes so far as to say, that he can suggest to me no improvement in the manner of taking my astronomical or other observations, or in the way of recording them. He has shown them to the excellent Capt. Beaufort, who also expressed his approbation of them, and has (I fear too partially) done the same officially to Mr. Hay at the Colonial Office. Capt. Sabine feels, I am sensible, too true a regard for my welfare not to point out my faults, and as this letter adverts to none, I may take it for granted, I trust, that he is well pleased with me. I have received a copy of Capt. Beechey's book. I entertain a great respect for that gentleman, but I think he has been too severe on the Catholic Missionaries in California. Any man who can make himself well understood by them, either in Castilian or Latin, will discover very shortly that they are people who know something more than their mass-book, and who practise many benevolent acts, which are not a little to their credit, and ought to soften the judgment of the stranger, who has probably had more opportunity of seeing men and things than the poor priests of California. Their errors are the errors of their profession, and I thus make bold to say so, having had reason to know that the individuals in question are honourable exceptions to priests in general. I am no friend to Catholicism, still I should desire to maintain my own opinion without hurting the feelings of others.
   I heard of M. Klotzsch from Mr. Ferdinand Deppe, of Berlin, whom I had the pleasure to meet in California. Formerly M. Deppe devoted his time wholly to Natural History, Zoology in particular; but now he is partly engaged in mercantile pursuits. In Mr. Klotzsch's favourite department of Botany little has been done out of Europe, and I fear little can be effected until he, or some one of equal zeal and talent, will undertake a voyage for the express purpose at least, we, can only look for a collection from such a source.
   What a blank we have in the department of sea-weeds! You must still look to Mr. Menzies as the main stay, though you will find some fine species in my collection from the coast of California. Fearing I may not have it in my power to visit the numerous groupes of islands so particularly rich in this class of vegetables on the North-West parts of the continent, I have written to all friends, American as well as English, residing there, and requested them to collect every thing in the shape of sea-weed, and that I may put them to as little trouble as possible. I have told [them] simply to dry them in the sun. They can, like Mosses, be revived and put in order afterwards. Scarcely a Moss exists in California. But when we consider the excessive dryness of its climate, our surprize may cease. Perhaps no where else in the ​world is such drought felt, if we except the deserts of Arabia, Egypt, and the plains of Ispahan; and what we know of these countries on this point is vague and imperfect, the senses being generally the test. Frequently have I sunk the internal thermometer of Daniell's hygrometer many degrees below zero, until the ball of the instrument was clothed with hoar-frost, and not the smallest particle of moisture could, on the most accurate scrutiny, be detected! My Meteorological Journal is, I trust, complete, and should such be wanted, will furnish ample data for an essay on this beautiful country.
   Not having received any letter from England, I can not definitively state what will be the direction of my future journey. Should I receive no fresh orders, I shall, as I stated before leaving [for?] home, proceed to the northward of the Columbia, skirting the western flanks of the Rocky Mountains, as far as convenience and safety will allow, and endeavor to reach the sea to the westward, to some of the Russian Establishments, or return by the same route, as may appear most desirable. On this point I shall be able to inform you in my next.
   I have had two most kind letters from Baron Wrangel, Governor of the Russian Territories in America and the Aleutian Islands, to whom I was made known through the Russian Minister at the Court of London. In his first he writes thus, which I know it will be pleasant to you to know, as it is highly agreeable to me: "J'ai appris avec une vive joie vôtre intention de faire une tournée dans nos environs. Soyez sûr, Monsieur, que jamais visite ne m'a été plus agréable, et que des bras ouverts vous attendent à Sitka. Si vous avez l'intention de retourner en Europe, par la Siberie, je puis vous assurer qu'au mois de Mai de l'année prochaine, vous pourrez commodement aller sur un de nos navires à Okotsk, où, d'après des nouvelles que je viens d'aprendre, on vous a dejà preparé un gracieux accueil. " This is more than kind, and the facilities offered for May, 1832, of course hold good for ensuing years. This letter was accompanied by a copy of a volume published in 1829, Recueil des Actes de l'Académie de St. Petersbourg, containing some very interesting accounts of the Russian expeditions to Mount Ararat; also an outline of Mertens' labors with Captain Lutke's Pendulum and Experiments made during his voyage. The Baron wrote me a second letter, and being fearful that I might not have received his first, took care to give me the same information, backed with additional assurances of his good will. I have had the advantage of seeing Cyrill Klebinkoff, Chief Director of the Russian-American Fur Company, an excellent man, who has great claims on my gratitude, as well as several Officers of the Imperial Navy. Indeed, they seem to be a set of people whose whole aim is to make you happy. You have my best thanks for replying to Dr. Fischer of St. Petersburgh; I shall write to him when opportunity offers.
   1 have a great desire to become better acquainted with the vegeta​tion of the Sandwich Islands, as I am sure much remains to be done there, and before quitting that country, I made conditional arrangements with Captain Charlton, our Consul, to aid me, should I return. This I shall earnestly endeavor to do. The Consul is a most amiable and excellent man. In Ferns alone, I think there must be five hundred species.
   I will trouble you to offer my kind regards to my old friends, Mr. Murray and Dr. Scouler, and say to the latter that I have a tolerable collection of bones for him, but as I thought he would himself enjoy the job of cleansing them, I have only cut away the more fleshy parts, by which means, too, they hang better together. They consist of a Sea Otter, entire; Wolves, Foxes, Deer, a Panther's head, etc. I shall send them by the earliest opportunity. You may also tell him that human heads are now plentiful in the Columbia, a dreadful intermittent fever having depopulated the neighborhood of the river; not twelve grown-up persons remain of those whom we saw when he and I were here together in 1825.
   The following was a sort of postscript to the above letter, but addressed to a young member of my family, who often had listened with delight to Mr. Douglas' well-told tales of his previous adventures in North-West America, and had caught something of the spirit of adventure from the narrator:
   "Your kind letter, dated just two years ago, gives me great satisfaction, as containing good accounts of the health and prosperity of yourself, brothers, sisters, and parents. Mr. Klotzsch's method of preserving Fungi, as you detail it to me, appears very excellent; that of scooping out the inside would, however, suit me better than the plan of boiling in tallow or grease till they are saturated; for, to tell you the truth, my dear young friend, such persons as myself, in a place like North-West America, commonly fry the Fungi in a little fat, if butter can not be had, and then eat mushrooms, tallow, and all together! But I will follow your and Mr. Klotzsch's plan when I have it in my power.
   "Your description of the late excursions to Ben Lomond and Killin delights me highly. I only wish I could have been one of the party, whether to fish, shoot, or botanize. By this time I trust you are almost another Izaak Walton, whose book you should study diligently, if ever you would become a worthy brother of the angle. In California I had fine sport, both at fishing and hunting; the former principally sea-fish, as those of the river are few and small. This mighty stream (the Columbia) is incomparably the noblest in the world for Salmon, Trout, or Sturgeon, whether for quality or abundance. But in the Sandwich Islands, my dear boy, the natives domesticate their fish! ​They catch in the sea, when about two inches long, two kinds of Mullet, the Grey and the White, with another fish of great delicacy, called in their tongue Ava, and remove them to large ponds of brackish or partly salt water, where they are suffered to remain a few weeks, and ultimately deposited in tanks of fresh water, where they grow exceeding large and fine, and are taken out for use at the pleasure of the owner. Thus you see these fellows are no despicable fishers.
   "You may tell your little brother (who wondered that I could bear to go to sea, as there were Cockroaches in all ships) that I feel now a mortal antipathy, more even than he, if possible, to these insects; for having made a great number of observations in the Sandwich Islands, the vile Cockroaches ate up all the paper, and as there was a little oil on my shoes, very nearly demolished them too!
   "I have never seen the Aurora Borealis, about which you inquire, particularly splendid, except occasionally near Hudson's Bay; but I hope shortly to go so far to the North as to see this phenomenon in all its magnificence; you shall perhaps hear of it by my next letter.
   "I trust we may yet have a fine jaunt to the Highlands together, perhaps in the summer of 1835."
   By the time I reach Fort Vancouver probably I may receive another letter from you. I have only a few hours left in which to write and thank Captains Beaufort and Sabine for all their goodness. Therefore be pleased to pardon this hasty epistle, and allow me to say again how greatly I feel obliged and gratified by this last token of your esteem, and to permit me to assure you that it is not bestowed on one who is incapable of feeling and appreciating it.
   Interior of the River Columbia,
   Lat. 48°5' N., long. 119°23' W., April 9, 1833.
   Early last November, by the arrival of the annual express across the continent at Fort Vancouver, I had the great pleasure to receive your very kind and truly welcome letter of May, 1832, accompanied by a memoir of the late Capt. Carmichael, and a notice of the late Mr. Barclay from the Botanical Miscellany. I can not tell you with what fervour I peruse your letters, especially at this distance from home. When I tell you that your epistle was the only one I had received for a whole year, saving a short one from the excellent Mr. Garry, who most punctually forwarded your parcel to me, you will perceive how very precious a thing a letter is to me now-a-days.
   Botany and ornamental gardening have sustained a great loss in the death of Mr. Barclay; the more to be regretted as no one seems to take that place which he held for so many years with honour to himself and advantage to the Science as one of its most liberal patrons. Last October, from the entrance of the Columbia River, by the last vessel which sailed for England, commanded by my excellent friend, J.E. ​Grave, Lieut. R.N., I wrote you at some length, and then mentioned that I had shipped in the Sandwich Islands, on board the Sarah of London, a South Sea-man, bound for London direct, the whole of my California collection. This vessel sailed from the Island of Woahoo on the 8th of September. Since I wrote to you, the season being winter, I have little new to communicate; during the interval I have made a journey, as I proposed, North of the Columbia, to New Georgia, and a most labourious one it was. My object was to determine the position of the Head Lands on the coast, and the culminating points of the many prodigiously high snowy peaks of the Interior, their altitudes, etc., and as I was favoured with exceedingly fine clear weather, this was effected much to my satisfaction. On this excursion I secured about two hundred species of Mosses, but as I am rather ignorant of this tribe, there may be a few more or less; certain it is, however, that there are many fine kinds that are totally unknown to me; and perhaps even you may find some of them new. I have also some interesting Fuci from Puget's Sound, collected on the same journey, three of which are decidedly not in Mr. Turner's work, and very noble species they are. I have bespoken the services of all the Captains on the North-West coast, to bring me all sorts of sea-weeds, simply coiled up, dried and put in a bag". This winter has been drier, but far more severe than the preceding season. The Columbia was closed with ice for four weeks at Menzies' Island, where it rather exceeds a mile in breadth, the thermometer indicating 22° of Fahrenheit, which is bitterly cold for the shores of the Pacific in the parallel of 45°. This gave me an excellent opportunity of multiplying my astronomical observations, on the angular distance between the moon's limb and the sun; the planets Venus, Mercury, Saturn, and Mars, and the fixed stars; not less than eight thousand observations in about six hundred sets, separately computed for the purpose of ascertaining the absolute longitude of Fort Vancouver. Besides, I observed the beautiful eclipse of the moon on the night of January the 5th of this year, with many of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites. Indeed, my whole skill was exerted on these operations, in order to obtain their position with the greatest accuracy, as all my chronometric longitudes are reduced to that meridian. I merely mention these things that you may not tax me with idleness, a character with which I am charged by the Londoners, and perhaps more deservedly in that great metropolis than elsewhere. I hope that you have not finished the fine Order Coniferœ in the Flora Boreali-Americana, that you may include the Pines discovered in my late journeys, viz., Pinus venusta, Sabini, and grandis.
   I quitted the ocean on the 19th of March, and followed the course of the river to this spot, picking up a few of the early-flowering plants, and better specimens of others which I had already possessed: among them are some novel species of Platyspermum, Thysanocarpus, and ​Ranunculus: a new Phlox, and a few Mosses. The disparity of climate between this point and the coast is very striking, though the difference of latitude be only 3°, and of longitude 6°. There, in the middle of March, many plants were in bloom; while here last night we had a new fall of snow of some depth, and the ground is still speckled with old snow.
   I proceed to give you a short sketch of my intended movements this year.
   As soon as the season permits, which I trust will be in a few days. I shall leave this spot for the northward, travelling sometimes in canoes, or on horseback, but far more generally on foot. The country is mountainous and very rugged, the rivers numerous, and there are not a few lakes of considerable extent. Perhaps I shall cross Mackenzie's track, at Fraser's River (called the Columbia by that great traveller) in about long. 122° West, and proceed northward among the mountains, as far as I can do so with safety, and with the prospect of effecting a return. The country is certainly frightful; nothing but prodigious mountains to be seen: not a deer comes, say the Indians, save once in a hundred years the poor natives subsist on a few roots. My outfit is five pounds of tea, and the same quantity of coffee, twenty-five pounds of sugar, fifteen pounds of rice, and fifty pounds of biscuit: a gallon of wine, ten pounds of powder and as much of balls, a little shot, a small silk fishing-net, and some angling tackle, a tent, two blankets, two cotton and two flannel shirts, a handkerchief, vest, coat, and a pair of deer-skin trousers (not those kindly presented to me by Dr. Gillies, which, by repeated exposure to rain, shrunk so much that I was reluctantly obliged to give them away), two pairs of shoes, one of stockings, twelve pairs of moccasins, and a straw hat. These constitute the whole of my personal effects; also a ream and a half of paper, and instruments of various kinds; my faithful servants, several Indians, ten or twelve horses, and my old terrier, a most faithful and now, to judge from his long grey board, venerable friend, who has guarded me throughout all my journies, and whom, should I live to return, I mean certainly to pension off on four pennyworth of cat'smeat per day.
   I am most anxious that you should know what I see and do on this important journey, and as it may so turn out that I shall never have the pleasure of meeting you more, I intend, God willing, to commence writing a little to you on the very first evening of my journey, which is fixed for the 18th, and continue thus to condense, from time to time, the substance of my notes, putting down whatever may appear most important and interesting to me.
   Fever still clings to the native tribes with great obstinacy, and not a few of the people of the Hudson's Bay Company have suffered very severely from it. Only three individuals out of one hundred and forty ​altogether escaped it, and I was one of that small number. Thank God, I never was in better health, and could I have but a few moments with you, I might add, in excellent spirits. Even the employment of writing to you, tends to enliven my mind. It is singular, that while my left eye is become infinitely more delicate and clear in its power of vision, the sight of my right eye is utterly gone; and, under every circumstance it is to me as dark as midnight. If I look through a telescope or microscope, I generally see objects pretty well at a short distance, but the least fatigue brings on a doubling of the object, with a surrounding vapory haze, that soon conceals everything. These results were owing to an attack of opthalmia. in 1826, followed by snow-blindness, and rendered irretrievable by the scorching heat of California. I use purple goggles to diminish the glare of the snow, though most reluctantly, as every object, plants and all, is thus rendered of the same colour.
   If you happen to be acquainted with Mr. James Wilson, of Edinburgh, brother of the celebrated Professor of that name, I beg you will offer him my sincere respects, and say that I have a few things for his "Illustrations," and a fine collection of birds for the College Museum.
   Woahoo, Sandwich Islands, May 6th, 1834.
   I am two letters in your debt, for last autumn, at the Columbia River, I had the great pleasure to receive, through Dr. Meredith Gairdner, a very long letter from you: and the same happiness was conferred on me on the 16th of April, by your last, which was exactly a year old, and in which you mention having addressed me just two two months previously. I imagine this last letter must have been sent by Captain Back, or the annual express of the Hudson's Bay Company; but I had left [for] the sea before the express arrived.
   My meeting with Dr. Gairdner afforded me heart-felt satisfaction, not only because he is a most accomplished and amiable young gentleman, devotedly attached to Natural History, and warmly recommended by you, but also because he told me of your health, and that of your family: the additions to your Herbarium, etc. I endeavored to show him the attentions to which every friend of yours is justified at my hands, and only regret that our time together was so short; for he is a person whom I highly respect. Mr. Tolmie had quitted the Columbia ​for the North-West coast before I arrived, and thus deprived, me of the pleasure of seeing an old student of jours. I wrote to him twice, indicating 1 those parts of the country which promise to yield the best harvest to the Naturalist, and particularly requesting his attention to the sea-weeds, but have not heard from him since, nor indeed at any time. I much regret not having seen this gentleman, for I could have told him many things useful for a young man entering this country as a Botanist or traveller to know. However, I explained them all to Dr. Gairdner.
   You will probably enquire why I did not address you by the despatch of the ship to Europe last year. I reached the sea- coast greatly broken down, having suffered no ordinary toil, and, on my arrival was soon prostrated by fever. My last letter to you was written from the interior of the Columbia, and bore date about the middle of April, 1833 (last year), just before starting on my northern journey. Therein I mentioned my intention of writing a few lines to you daily, which I did, up to the 13th of June, a most disastrous day for me, on which I lost, what I may call, my all! On that morning, at the Stony Islands of Eraser's River (the Columbia of McKenzie, see the map in his 4to edition), my canoe was dashed to atoms, when I lost every article in my possession, saving an astronomical journal, book of rough notes, charts and barometrical observations, with my instruments. My botanical notes are gone, and, what gives me most concern, my journal of occurrences also, as this is what can never be replaced, even by myself. All the articles needful for pursuing my journey were destroyed, so that my voyage for this season was frustrated. I can not detail to you the labour and anxiety this occasioned me, both in body and mind, to say nothing of the hardships and sufferings I endured. Still I reflect, with pleasure, that no lives were sacrificed. I passed over the cataract and gained the shore in a whirlpool below, not however by swimming, for I was rendered helpless and the waves washed me on the rocks. The collection of plants consisted of about four hundred species two hundred and fifty of these were mosses and a few of them new. This disastrous occurrence has much broken my strength and spirits. The country over which I passed was all mountainous, but most so towards the Western Ocean: still it will, ere long, be inhabited. I have written to Mr. Hay, Under Secretary of State, respecting the boundary line of the Columbia, as the American government is anxious to obtain a footing there. ​After this misfortune, in June, I endeavoured, as far as possible, to repair my losses, and set to work again; and I hope some good new species were obtained for the Flora Boreali-Americana, which I am very anxious should reach you without delay. It is more than probable that I may have the pleasure of presenting these to you myself, say in March next, as it is my intention to return to England by the very first opportunity; and I hope this small collection may give you some satisfaction, as it is all I can now offer you from North-West America. It reconciles me somewhat to the loss, to reflect that you now have friends in that country, Who will probably make up the deficiency. I have given Dr. Gairdner my notes on some more new species of Finns. This gentleman and Mr. Tolmie will have a good deal to contend with. Science has few friends among those who visit the coast of North-West America, solely with a view to gain. Still with such a person as Mr. McLoughlin on the Columbia, they may do a great deal of service to Natural History.
   (TO BE CONTINUED.)
* ↑ For a most interesting account of which see v. III, p. 5 of the Botanical Miscellany.
* ↑ Douglas' MS. here must have been misread by his editor. He evidently said "The southern termination of his former travels was the source of the river." —Ed. Quarterly.
* ↑ See pages 89-90 (March —Quarterly). —Ed. Quarterly.
* ↑ Jedediah S. Smith with a trapping party of nineteen men in all was attacked on the Umpqua on July 18, 1824, and all but four of the party killed. A force was sent out by Dr. McLoughlin to chastise the Indians. This was probably "the second party" referred to by Douglas. —Ed. Quarterly.
* ↑ The Isabella, Captain Ryan, ran aground on Sand Island in 1830, and was abandoned by the crew. Bancroft's History of Oregon, v. I, p. 41. -Ed. Quaterly.
* ↑ If his "last observation" was correct the intervening distance was about 300 miles. —Ed. Quarterly.
* ↑ A splendid groupe, consisting of some of those that have since flowered in the Horticultural Society's Garden, is given in the Hort. Trans., N.S., v. I, t. 18; and the dried specimens have afforded valuable materials for a revision of the whole Order by Mr. Bentham, in Bot. Reg. under t. 1622.
* ↑ See Platystemon, Platystigma, and Dendromecon of Mr. Bentham in Hort. Trans., N. S., v. i, p. 405.
* ↑ Dendromecon rigidum, Benth. and Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 37.
* ↑ This nobleman had been, some little time previously, made acquainted with Mr. Douglas' mission through the kindness of our valued friend, Dr. Fischer, of St. Petersburg, as well as that of the Imperial Minister in London. The same subject is alluded to in a succeeding letter.
* ↑ Dr. Coulter has, some time ago, returned to this country, with, we believe, a most extensive herbarium, formed in Mexico and California. The living Cacti which he sent from the former country to Prof. De Candolle of Geneva, and to Mr. Mackay of the Dublin College Botanic Garden, are particularly interesting.
* ↑ This, the letter immediately preceding, did not arrive till April.
* ↑ I need scarcely say that this generous wish on the part of poor Douglas, has been to the fullest extent complied with, by the Horticultural Society; and the merits of this zealous Naturalist will be yet more evident, when I shall lay the account of them before the public, in the Companion to the Botanical Magatiue. The materials are in a considerable state of forwardness, and figures of some have already appeared in the Icones Plantarum.
* ↑ This alludes to the Botanical Journeys of Mr. Drummond in Louisiana and Texas, of which an account has already been given in the first volume of this Journal. It was at one time thought he might reach the Pacific from the Mississippi, by way of California. But it was otherwise ordained.
* ↑ Many of the new plants discovered by this gentleman in Mexico are published by Schlechtendal Chamisso in the volume of the "Linnœ"; the same work also contains some interesting accounts of his excursions.
* ↑ For an account of M. Klotzsch's mode of preserving Fungi, see Botanical Miscellany, v. 2, p. 159, t. 83.
* ↑ Mr. Wilson was, at the time, engaged in publishing his beautifnl Zoological Illustrations. Ed.
* ↑ This accomplished gentleman, together with Mr. Tolmie, one of my most zealous botanical students, I had the pleasure of recommending to medical appointments in the Hudson Bay Company's possessions on the North-West Coast of America. The latter gentleman is stationed at Fort McLoughlin in Millbank Sound, N. lat. 52°.
* ↑ The following are some farther particulars of this disastrous voyage, given to me by Archibald McDonald, Esq., a gentleman in the Hudson Bay Company's service, who visited Scotland, early in the year 1835: "Agreeably to your wish, Sir, I proceed to commit something to paper, connected with our friend Douglas, in case it may assist the design which his friends entertain of laying something before the public, prior to Mr. Douglas' own return to England. It is very little that I can say, beyond what is expressed in his own letters: but, little as it is, I have thought it a good plan to accompany it with a rough topographical sketch of the country, to which you can refer to the relative directions of places, though not for a correct scale of distances. "On his arrival in the country, May, 1830, Mr. Douglas ascended the Columbia for some distance, returning in September, when he soon took his passage in one of our vessels for California. There he remained till the autumn of 1832, and, in October of that year, returned to Fort Vancouver, by way of the (Sandwich) islands, and spent the winter in that vicinity, in the most advantageous way he could, principally in Astronomical pursuits. " Early in March, 1833, he met me at Puget's Sound, and we returned together to Fort Vancouver, on the 20th, of the same month, when he embarked with our people, who were crossing over to Hudson's Bay. He landed at Oakanagan, whence he proceeded with the cattle party to Thompson's River, Alexandria and Upper Caledonia. At Stuart's Lake he found one of the Company's officers preparing to set out on an exploring expedition, down Simpson's. River, which falls into the Pacific, two or three degrees north of Mackenzie's small river, and was much disposed to accompany him: but fearing they could not reach the sea, or any of our settlements on the coast, and would In that case lose time, and be disappointed in other projects he had in view, he did not join the party. With his man Johnson, he shipped himself in a small bark canoe down to Fort George; there he remained a day or two with Mr. Linton, and, on the second day after he had commenced descending the stream, he experienced the disaster, which he communicated in the letter to yourself. From Alexandria Mr. Douglas got back to Thompson's River, and Oakanagan, by the same route that he went, and with the same means that he had from our people in Spring. At Oakanagan he took two Indian canoes, and, when half way down to Walla-wallah, on the 14th of July, met Mr. Conolly, of New Caledonia, and myself,, on our way up the river, with supplies for the Interior. He continued some days at Walla-wallah, with Mr. Pambrun, making occasional journeys to the Blue Mountains, and finally attempted the ascent of Mount Hood. In the month of September, 1833, I received a letter from him, stating that he was on the eve of sailing again for the Sandwich Islands. "Edinburgh, 20th January, 1835."}} Archibald McDonald. "