MENZIES JOURNAL OF VANCOUVER'S VOYAGES. 1 7 



In 1786 a letter of recommendation from his old Edinburgh 

 chief, Dr John Hope, to Sir Joseph Banks, led to the appoint- 

 ment of Menzies to the " Prince of Wales " as surgeon on a 

 voyage of three years round the world under Captain Colnett. 

 The " Princess Royal " (Captain Duncan) also took part in the 

 expedition. Unfortunately little is known of this voyage or its 

 results. There are scattered references to it, however, in Menzies' 

 subsequent journals. The ships proceeded to Cape Horn and 

 sailed thence direct to Nootka Sound, then in the hands of the 

 Spanish, on the west side of what was not then known to be an 

 island. Indeed, in these early voyages to the North Pacific, 

 Nootka Sound in Vancouver Island was a more famous place 

 than it has ever been since ; the name, however, is familiar to 

 many of us from the well-known plants to which it has been 

 applied, such as Chamaecyparis nutkafensts, Rubus nutkanus, Rosa 

 nutkana and others, all of Menzies' finding. 



The two vessels spent some months in exploring the north- 

 west American coast, and then proceeded to the Sandwich 

 Islands to winter. They sailed again for the American coast 

 in March 1788, parted company, and met again in the Sand- 

 wich Islands before proceeding to China, where they arrived in 

 December of that year. Captain Colnett remained there and 

 Menzies sailed for England in the " Prince of Wales," now 

 commanded by Captain Duncan, on ist February, arriving 

 on 4th July 1789. 



Menzies' professional and scientific services were so well 

 regarded by the authorities that, again at the instance of Sir 

 Joseph Banks, he was appointed Naturalist, and later became 

 surgeon, to the "Discovery," Captain George Vancouver's little 

 ship of 330 tons. Accompanied by the " Chatham," a brig of 

 140 tons, commanded by Lieutenant W. R. Broughton, Vancouver 

 sailed on his famous voyage from Falmouth, on ist April 1791, 

 for the Pacific by way of the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, 

 New Zealand, and Tahiti. Hawai was sighted on ist March 1792. 



Menzies' Journal ^\xxm% the eighteen days the vessels remained 

 in the Sandwich Islands, also from 29th January 1793, when 

 they had returned from the Western American Coast, till 30th 

 March 1793, and during their third visit to the Islands — 8th 

 January 1794 till February 1794 — has been edited by W. F. 

 Wilson, and published in Honolulu in 1920. That publication 

 and the Journal itself ends abruptly after the vivid story by 



VOL. XXXVIII. PART I. B 



