6 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



2. Menzies' Journal of Vancouver's Voyages, 

 April to October 1792.1 



By F. R. S. Balfour. 



The government of British Columbia are to be congratulated 

 on the publication of that portion of Archibald Menzies' 

 voluminous journals which describes the exploration of the 

 waters surrounding the Island of Vancouver. Dr Newcombe, 

 whose knowledge of the topography and botany of British 

 Columbia is very extensive, has done his work exceedingly well. 

 The print is clear, the misprints are few - though the preface 

 contains some misprinted dates — while the method adopted of 

 a wide column on each page, containing notes of dates and 

 place and botanical identifications, parallel with the letter- 

 press, adds greatly to the pleasure of reading the book. 



The Journal was purchased at Sotheby's by the Authorities 

 of the British Museum in 1886 and is now there. It is strange 

 that it has lain so long as eighty-one years since Menzies' death 

 without finding an editor, and there is still much of ihQ Journal 

 unpublished. It is satisfactory, however, that this part of 

 the work has been well done, indeed much better done 

 than was the case with the Journal of David Douglas which 

 was published by the Royal Horticultural Society in 19 14, 

 just eighty years after Douglas' tragic death in the Sandwich 

 Islands. 



Archibald Menzies was born at the house of Stix near 

 Aberfeidy in 1754. He learned the rudiments of botany 

 by working for a time at Castle Menzies, where so many 

 fine trees which he discovered may now be seen. He after- 

 wards entered the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh as 

 a student, an elder brother, William, being already employed 

 there. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, and, after a short 

 period of practice at Carnarvon, entered the Navy as an 

 assistant surgeon and served under Rodney in his victory, on 

 1 2th April 1782, over the Comte de Grasse. After peace 

 had been declared, he served for four years on the Halifax 

 naval station. 



^ Edited by C. F. Newcombe, M.D. Printed at Victoria, B.C., by the 

 authority of the Legislative Assembly, 1923. 



