590 



jneasuved, and found to be 23,000 feet in height. Steering north, the 

 ships made the river Sua, in Ecuador, on the 22nd of January, 1846 ; 

 and it was here that poor Edmondston lost his life, by the accidental 

 discharge of a rifle. After surveying the Bay of Choco they sailed 

 northward to Panama, leaving that place on the 16th of April, and 

 returning there, after visiting San Francisco, Acapulco, and Guate- 

 mala, on the 17th of January, 1847. Here they were joined by Mr. 

 Seemann, appointed Naturalist to the Expedition in the place of Mr. 

 Edmondston. Until the 24th of April, 1848, the ships were employed 

 in surveying the coasts of South America; and then the destination 

 of the ' Herald ' was entirely changed. The non-return of Sir John 

 Franklin began to excite much apprehension ; and Captain Kellett 

 received orders to co-operate with the vessels composing the Relief 

 Expedition. The 'Herald' immediately sailed north, and on the 

 14th of September anchored off Chamisso Island, Kotzebue Sound. 

 An account of Mr. Seemann's botanical labours in this district form 

 the first subject of the work now commenced ; and we shall allow 

 him to speak for himself in describing these little-known regions. 



" The whole country from Norton Sound to Point Barrow is a vast 

 moorland, whose level is only interrupted by a few promontories and 

 isolated mountains. The rain and snow-water, prevented by a frozen 

 soil from descending, forms numerous lagoons, or, where the forma- 

 tion of the ground opposes this, bogs, the general aspect and vegeta- 

 tion of which do not materially differ from those of Northern Europe, 

 being covered with a dense mass of lichens, mosses, and other uligi- 

 nous forms. Places less covered with plants are sometimes difficult 

 to pass. The ground is soft, and covered with isolated tufts of Erio- 

 phorum capitatum. In walking over them some of the tufts give way, 

 or the foot slides and sinks into the mud, from which it is often diffi- 

 cult to extricate it. Wherever drainage exists, either on the shores 

 of the sea, the banks of rivers, or the slopes of hills, the ground is free 

 from peat. Such localities are generally clad with a luxuriant her- 

 bage, and produce the rarest, as well as the most beautiful plants. 



" The aspect of some spots is very gay. Many flowers are large, 

 their colours bright, and though white and yellow predominate, plants 

 displaying other tints are not uncommon. Cape Lisburne, one of the 

 most productive localities, looks like a garden. The Geum glaciale, 

 with its fine yellow blossoms, is intermingled with the purple Clay- 

 tonia sarmentosa, and a host of Anemones and white and yellow Saxi- 

 frages, or the blue Myosotis alpina. But such spots arc rare, they 

 arc like oases in deserts. The Flora cannot be said to possess au 



