128 Dr, Hooker on American Botany. 



ledge should have added the acquirement of natural history, 

 particularly of botany. It was our good fortune to have in 

 view, at the period when the application was made to us, a young 

 man every way qualified for such a situation, Mr. Scouler, 

 unquestionably one of our ablest botanical students. He em- 

 barked for the north-west coast of America in the month of 

 July of this year (1824,) and will be absent altogether two 

 years. 



The greater portion of the interior of this extended coun- 

 try, and its northern coast, remains to be explored and inves- 

 tigated by Captain Franklin and our inestimable friend Dr. 

 Richardson, together with the officers and men who will be 

 appointed to accompany them. Of the botanical acquire- 

 ments of the last-named gentleman we have the highest opi- 

 nion. For zeal in collecting he cannot be surpassed ; still, in 

 order that his collections may be more complete, and that a 

 greater extent of country may be embraced, he has, partly at 

 his own expense, and partly by the aid of government, re- 

 solved upon taking with him Mr. Drummond of Forfar, 

 whom we have already mentioned in this Journal most fa- 

 vourably, as the author of a valuable work on the mosses of 

 Scotland, and whom we have no hesitation in pronouncing to 

 be one of the most acute and ardent followers of botany that 

 this country possesses. 



The expedition, as is well known, will embark early in 

 February, and it will land at New York. Captain Franklin, 

 Dr. Richardson, and Mr. Drummond will proceed together 

 as far as Red River on Lake Winipeg, or Carlton House on 

 the Saskatchawan, which will be Drummond's head quarters 

 for two summers, from whence he will make excursions in 

 company with the fur traders, at the head of that vast valley 

 which forms the extensive plain across the Missouri, and 

 opens towards Mexico. Here, therefore, he may be expected 

 to meet with a highly curious vegetation and plants, similar 

 to those which Nuttall, James, and Bradbury discovered on 

 the banks of the Missouri itself. He will likewise have the 

 opportunity of botanizing on the declivities of the Rocky 

 Mountains, in lat. 52°. 



Captain Franklin and Dr. Richardson will proceed together 

 as far as the mouth of the Mackenzie River, which will pro- 

 bably be the extreme northern point attained by the latter \ 



