20 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
stream, and not exceeding the dimensions of a slender shrub ten or 
twelve feet in height. Dr. Bachman tells me it is common along rivers 
in Virginia, but he does not think it is mdigenous there, and observes 
that where once introduced it speedily establishes itself by the multi- 
plicity of suckers thrown up by the widely-creeping roots. 
Sept. 9th.—Started from the pier at the foot of Barclay Street, at 
7, a.M., on board the Niagara, New York and Albany steamer, not 
sorry to exchange my suffocating, though very exalted, quarters under 
the burning roof of the Astor House, for the cooler atmosphere of the 
noble Hudson, arriving at Albany, a distance of 151 miles, between 4 
and:5, Pm., thus running nearly seventeen miles an hour against the 
current of the river, including stoppages, which were very numerous. 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
* 
Mr. Sprucr’s intended Voyage to the Amazon River. 
No one can have read the published narrative of a visit to the 4ma- 
zon River by Mr. Edwards (an American gentleman and a descendant 
we believe, of the celebrated President, Jonathan Edwards,) without 
feeling a convietion that there is a glorious field for the botanist, and 
very much too an unexplored one. Some ofthe noble tributaries to that 
river have, indeed, been visited by naturalists, as Burchell (whose col- 
lections, we believe, are still in their original packing-cases), Sir Robert 
Schomburgk, and more recently Mr. Weddell; while Dr. Poeppig has 
descended almost the whole length of the mighty ** Amazon-stróm." 
But, even following their tracks, an ample harvest may yet be gleaned ; 
and a vast deal is virgin territory. Great are the inducements for a bo- 
tanist to visit these shores, and, influenced by these motives, Mr. Spruce 
proposes to set out on a voyage thither early in the ensuing spring. His 
object is partly for his own gratification and information, and the fur- 
therance of the cause of Natural History; and partly that others may 
share in his collections, either by a subscription paid in advance, to be 
. repaid, according to priority of subscription, in specimens, at the rate 
of £2. the 100 species, delivered in London, or by purchasing sets at 
