82 THE PLANT WOKLD. 



But how came these plants in the possession of Mr. i^uttall 

 and Mr. Pursh ? I have already indicated that Mr. Pursli 

 received a few from Meriwerther Lewis. The most of them, 

 however, were gotten in quite a different w^ay, and the answer- 

 ing of the question fonns an interesting chapter in the history 

 of the botany of the Rocky Mountain region, a brief sketch of 

 which I wish to recount. 



In 1810 a Mr. Hunt, in the service of John Jacob Astor, 

 was making a trip across the continent with a considerable com- 

 pany to Astoria. ]\Ir. John Bradbury, a Scotch naturalist, 

 had been sent out some vears earlier bv the Linean society 

 of Liverpool to make collections in the IS^ew World. The 

 expedition of Mr. Hunt gave to him the opportunity to pene- 

 trate a hitherto unexplored region, and he gladly used the 

 opportunity; Mr. ISTuttall, then a botanist of Philadelphia, 

 eagerly offered to accompany Mr. Bradbury, and his offer was 

 accepted. Mr. Hunt gave them the protection and facilities of 

 his party, and in this company, in the spring and summer of 

 1810, they proceeded up the Missouri to the Arickara Indian 

 villages in Dakota ; and about the middle of July started on 

 the return trip to St. Louis. Washington Inang, the chronicler 

 of Astoria has told in the book of that name of the activity and 

 eagerness of Mr. I^uttall in collecting plants. "Mr. Nuttall 

 seems to have been exclusively devoted to his scientific pursuits. 

 He was a zealous botanist, and all his enthusiasm was awakened 

 at beholding a new world, as it were, opening upon him in the 

 boundless prairies, clad in tlie vernal and variegated robe of 

 unknown flowers. Every plant or flower of a rare or unknown 

 species was eagerly seized as a prize." He was "forgetful of 

 everything but his immediate pursuit, and had often to be 

 sought after when the boats were about to resume their course. 

 At such times he would be found far off in the prairies or up 

 the course of some petty stream laden with plants of all kinds." 



Mr. Bradbury, too, was busy collecting, and collected much 

 of the same material that Mr. I^uttall did, but he "was less 

 exclusive in his tastes and habits, and combined the hunter 



