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OBSERVATIONS DURING A V0YAGI3 FROM ENGLAND TO FORT 

 VANCOUVER, ON THE NORTH-WEST COAST OF AMERICA. 



By Dr Meredith Gairdner. In a Letter to Profes- 

 sor Jameson*. 



I SEIZE the first opportunity which has presented itself since 

 my arrival on the shores of America, of communicating to you 

 a few short notices of the scenes which have passed under my 

 view since quitting my native country. 



Our voyage hither was long, and, by many, would have been 

 considered as tedious ; but the atmosphere which surrounded 

 us, and the ocean which we were traversing, presented so many 

 interesting and continually changing objects to our view, that I 

 am tempted to think what is called the ennui of a long sea- 

 voyage, is owing rather to the temper of mind of the voyager 

 than to the circumstances in which he is placed. Daily I had a 

 constant source of occupation in noting the oscillations of the ba- 

 rometer (we had a very good marine one on board, constructed by 

 Gilbert), the diurnal changes in the temperatures of the air, and 

 the superficial strata of the ocean ; in carrying on a series of as- 

 tronomical observations for the determination of the ship's places 

 in concert with our navigators ; and in observing the habits and 

 structure of the different aerial and aquatic animals which fell 

 in our way in the course of our long traverse. And yet I had 

 daily to regret the omission of many highly interesting observa- 

 tions, from the want of opportunity, and the means of their 



• " Fort Vancouver is situated in a plain, about ninety miles from the 

 mouth of the Colombia lliver, on its north bank. In my journey of about 

 fourteen days into the country of the Walamet lliver, a tributary of great 

 size which falls into the Columbia opposite to Fort Vancouver, I remarked 

 tliis country as consisting of a series or extensive plains or prairies, covered 

 with grass, interspersed with belts of fir and oak, and bounded on the east by 

 the maritime chain of snowy peaks, and on the west by the ranges immediately 

 skirting the Pacific. The thick cover of soil prevented my obtaining much 

 information in my favourite geognostic science ; but being my first essay at 

 voyagmg in NW. America, was highly interesting. One of the most inte- 

 resting objects which I saw in these plains, were large blocks of granite scat- 

 tered on the surface, which must have come from a great distance, as this 

 rock is not found fixed in the maritime chain or country between it and the 

 sea-coast to the south of the Colombia, — a tract, as far as I have seen speci- 

 mens, or have been able to procure information, consisting almost if not en- 

 tirely of igneous rock from modem cellular lava (as at the falls of the Wala- 

 met) or compact block basalt. 



" One of the most striking phenomena in the atmospheric constitution of 

 Fort Vancouver, is the extent of the diurnal change of temperature, 35° from 

 sunrise to 2 p. m. is not uncommon. Once I saw the thermometer (Fahr.) at 

 43° at sunrise, while at noon of the same day it stood at 87°. The highest I 

 ever saw it was one day in July, when at 2 p. m. it stood at 89° in the shade." 

 .—.Ejeiractfram Dr Gairdner' s Letter to his father^ dated 'd\st August 1833. 



