106 SHORT ON WESTERN BOTANV. 



unknown sources of the Missouri, Capt. Zebulon Pike, an- 

 other highly meritorious officer, was despatched on a similar 

 expedition, for the purpose of tracing the Mississippi to its 

 head; and although but ill provided with the proper outfit, 

 and labouring, consequently, under many disadvantages, he 

 nevertheless effected the main object of his mission, in nine 

 months, to the satisfaction of Government ; and immediately 

 on his return was selected by Gen. Wilkinson for a second 

 expedition to the interior of Louisiana, which be prosecuted 

 even into the Spanish territory. A narrative of these two 

 expeditions was published in 1810, which although rich in geo- 

 graphical antl odier valuable information, is comparatively 

 barren in its notices of the Botany and natural history of the 

 unknown regions through which he passed ; no one conversant 

 with these subjects having been associated with him. Th\s 

 we have the greater reason to regret, because we know 

 that one gentleman at least, of pre-eminent attainments, ap- 

 plied to the executive for permission to accompany these ex- 

 peditions, but applied in vain. 



A few years after the return of the party under Lewis and 

 Clark, the same country which they explored was visited as 

 far up as the Mandan Villages on the Missouri, by Mr John 

 Bradbury, an English gentleman of very respectable attain- 

 ments as a naturalist, who had been sent to America, by a" 

 association in England, as a collector of objects in natural his- 

 tory, and of seeds and roots, for introduction to the gardens oi 

 that country. Descending the Ohio from the East, he examined 

 the productions of its borders; and at St Louis, where he re- 

 mainedduring the entire seasonof 1810, he diligently explored 

 the region round about, and despatched in the fall a rich collec- 

 tion of plants to Europe. Early in the springof 181 1, he joined 

 a fur-trading company and ascended with them the Missouri 

 to the point we have mentioned. On this voyage, still larger 

 collections, and some new discoveries were made, which bemg 

 sent to England fell into the hands of Pursh, and were pub- 

 lished in his Flora, as it appears, without the consent of Mr 

 Bradbury. In 1817, this traveller published in London a jour- 



