SHORT ON WESTERN BOTANY. 115 



the Rocky Mountains, by the route of the Saskatchawan 

 river, and reached them at that interesting and important 

 point which must be considered as the most elevated of that 

 lofty chain, for here the four mightiest rivers of the continerity 

 interlocking their primary rills, descend in the four cardinal 

 directions, seeking their different and far distant ocean-homes 

 —the Saskatchawan runs eastward to Hudson's Bay — the 

 Mackenzie northward to the Polar Sea — the Columbia west- 

 ward to the Pacific Ocean, — and the Missouri southward to 

 the Gulf of Mexico ; whilst in the same quarter, though 

 comparatively in a much lower region, arise the St Lawrence 

 and the Mississippi proper. 



From the most elevated portion of the Rocky Mountain 

 chain, at this interesting point, rise, in towering majesty, two 

 rival peaks to the height of fifteen and sixteen thousand feet, 

 between which a passage of comparatively easy ascent is 

 offered across the mountains. These guardian giants of 

 the pass are named in honour of two illustrious botanists 

 of Great Britain — Brown and Hooker; and thus are the 

 Pelion and the Ossa of the Rocky Mountains — those Chimbo- 

 lazos of the northern Andes, dedicated to the cause of 

 Botany; and whilst they rear their towering summits to the 

 skies, clad in eternal snows, they proclaim the pure and ele- 

 vated delights of our science, and stand themselves ever- 

 lasting monuments of the zeal and daring of its votaries ! 



Whilst this portion of British America was thus diligently 

 explored by this party, that section of it lying west of the 

 Rocky Mountains, on the Pacific coast, and contiguous to 

 the Columbia river, was undergoing a similar investigation 

 by Mr David Douglas, a very competent Botanist, who was 

 sent out by the London Horticultural Society.* Thus a 

 Zone of at least two degrees of latitude in width, and reach- 



* The fate of the indefatigable and lamented Douglas, was melancholy 

 m the extreme. From the American coast he passed over to the Sand- 

 ^'ch Islands ; and whilst exploring one of these, he fell into a pit, prepared 

 '^y the natives for entrapping the wild-bull, and bv one of these animals 

 was gored to death ! 



