TIIK I'.oTAMSTS ()F PHILADELPHIA. 87 



;i<(viulecl the Seneca, or Keowee River, one of tlic principal 

 sources of the Savannah, and crossing the mountains which 

 divide its waters from those of the Tennessee, he continued 

 his journey along the course of the later to the borders 

 of the present state of Tennessee. Finding that his 

 explorations could not safely be extended in that neighbor- 

 hood, he retraced his steps to the Savannah River, proceed- 

 ing thence through Georgia and Alabama to Mobile. His 

 well-known and interesting book contains numerous 

 references to the botany of these regions, with occasional 

 popular descriptions, and in a few cases Latin characters of 

 some remarkable plants, as for example, Myrica inodora 

 (Travels, 1791, p. 405), discovered at Appalachicola, Fla., 

 Rhododendron punctatum, Stuartia pentagyna, Azalea calen- 

 dulacea, Trautvetteria palmata, Magnolia Fraseri. 



After his return to Philadelphia he devoted himself to 

 science; was elected professor in the University of Penn- 

 sylvania in 1782, which post he declined on account of 

 failing health. He published, besides his travels, the most 

 complete and correct list of American birds, prior to the 

 work of Alexander Wilson, w T ho was greatly assisted, and in 

 fact was persuaded by William Bartram, to undertake that 

 splendid production, " The American Ornithology." 



The greater number of the plates of Barton's " Ele- 

 ments of Botany " (1803) were engraved from the original 

 drawings of Wm. Bartram, who, although never married, 

 found consolation in the pursuit of science, his life being 

 spent, when not away from Philadelphia, in looking after 

 and caring for the many interesting plants in the old 

 garden inherited by John Bartram, fil. William lived with 

 his niece, Nancy, who married Col. Robert Carr, until his 



