130 ERYTHEA. 



and at Acapulco, and on May 1, 1791, Malaspina sailed from the 

 latter place for the purpose of exploring the northwest coast. 

 These Spanish voyagers studied the coast line carefully as far, at 

 least, as 60° north latitude, entering the sounds about what is now 

 known as Vancouver Island, locating Mt. Edgecumbe near Sitka, 

 and, finally, disheartened with the failure to discover the desired 

 passage in the closed inlets of Prince Williams Sound, the ships 

 directed their course towards the south, anchoring for a time in 

 Port Mulgrave (or Yakutat Bay), the port Nootka, and tarried 

 several days, to be exact, from September 13 to 25, in the Bay of 

 Monterey, Alta California, where they received from their fellow- 

 countrymen a most cordial welcome. 



The botanists of the expedition were Luis Nee and Thaddeus 

 Haenke, and it is generally received that these were the first 

 botanical travelers to visit California. In that excellent annotated 

 " List of Persons who have made Botanical Collections in Cali- 

 fornia," by Prof. W. H. Brewer, forming Appendix IV to the 

 Botany of California, we are told that "the first botanists to visit 

 California were Thaddeus Haenke and Luis Nee." Dr. Howe, in 

 Erythea, Vol. I, p. 63, repeats to the same effect, and Professor 

 Sargent, in his illuminating work, the Silva of North America, 

 makes the statement ^ that " he [Nee] and Haenke were the first 

 botanists to visit California." The Bohemian botanist, Thaddeus 

 Haenke, there can be no doubt, came to Monterey with Malaspina 

 in 1791, but it is equally certain, it seems to the writer, that the 

 distinguished Luis Nee did not accompany the Sjjanish captain so 

 far north but remained behind in Mexico. This appears clearly 

 upon the authority of Bancroft,^ and it is to be offered in addition 

 that, although Nee had a decided taste for collecting, no California 

 plants are ever attributed to him save Berberis pinnata, published 

 in 1803 by Lagasca in the "Elenchus Plantarura " of the Royal 



iVol. viii, 25. 



' History of California, vol. i, p. 490, where may be found in a foot-note 

 a full list of the officers made at Monterey. The scientific corps in part 

 was as follows: Jose Espinosa ; Felipe Bauza ; surgeons Francisco Flores 

 and Pedro Gonzales; apothecary Luis Nee* and Tadeo Haenke; pintor 

 de perspectiva Tomiis Suria ; desecador y dibujante de plantas Jos6 de 

 Guio.* The names marked with a star indicate those who remained in 

 Mexico. 



