BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 493 
tion that misfortunes still attended his wanderings, so that 
he was detained at Mobile in Alabama much longer than 
he could have wished. The circumstances are these, as de- 
tailed in his letter from that place, dated December 23, 1844. 
“I have to inform you that I have as yet proceeded no 
further than Mobile, owing to causes which I am about to 
explain. On leaving New York, I proceeded by way of 
Philadelphia, and thence crossed the Alleghany mountains to 
the head of the Ohio at Pittsburg, and descended that river 
to its junction with the Mississippi, and was proceeding down 
thelatter noble stream to New Orleans, when our steam-boat, 
the * Belle," a splendid new vessel, was run into at mid- 
night, and sustained such injury that she sunk in a few 
minutes. By great good fortune, I caught hold of a plank 
which kept me above water, till I was picked up by the small 
boat belonging to the vessel which had so damaged us, but I 
lost everything except my shirt and trousers, and four dollars 
that were in my pocket. 
“This calamity has prevented me from prosecuting my in- 
tended tour for the present; but ever since my arrival at 
Mobile, I have been actively engaged in making a large col- 
lection of such southern plants as I am certain will meet with 
a ready market at New York, and as these will be despatched 
at once, I may naturally look for payment by February, and 
so be put into a position to pursue my route early in spring. 
And I am really disposed to hope that little time is lost by 
the delay, for whether I go, in the first place, to the Texian 
Mountains; or, what now seems more probable, to Santa 
Fé, in either case, I shall arrive soon enough for the spring 
Flora. If I decide on the latter course, I shall join the 
regular Traders at the City of St. Louis, and avail myself of 
their protection to Santa Fè : they go annualiy, and therefore 
no disappointment can be anticipated on that head. 
a, By an opportunity that now presents itself of forwarding dur 
growing plants, I shall send you specimens of what appears 
to me the Sarracenia Drummondi, which I understand you 
have never seen in flower ; din with. two other species of 
