64 DOUGLAS' JOURNAL 



Saturday, June llth. To a ridge of high snowy mountains about a 

 hundred miles distant south-east, having taken measures to have horses 

 and guides provided some days before. I left about 2 P.M. in an easterly 

 direction along the southern banks of the River Wallawallah, which 

 stream I followed to the base of the Blue Mountains. 



On Tuesday the 20th, with a view of crossing this ridge to the opposite 

 side, I started early in the morning and stayed near a small well bo break- 

 fast about midday, having passed over the first snow-capped hump, made a 

 short stay and proceeded very slowly (for the horses were weak) till 4 P.M., 

 when I was reluctantly obliged to stop, seeing no hope of the horses 

 being able to cross the snow, which was very deep. I camped on its 

 verge, left the two guides at the camp, and proceeded on foot to the summit, 

 which I gained at six o'clock. The lower part was difficult to ascend, the 

 snow being soft, but after passing over this part of it, a crust being on that 

 above, I gained it without any difficulty. Scarcely had half an hour 

 gone when a dark cloud passed over me and a dreadful thunderstorm 

 commenced, with lightning in massy sheets, mixed with forked flashes 

 and hail and large pieces of ice, and the thunder resounding through the 

 deep valleys below. In the dying gusts of the storm one of the most 

 sublime spectacles in Nature presented itself : the declining sun had just 

 partially gilt the top of the snowy mountains, and below a magnificent 

 rainbow was nearly a perfect circle. All tended to impress the mind with 

 reverential awe. I might have crossed this ridge at a more southerly 

 point, but the boy who served me as interpreter found little difficulty 

 in preventing my guides from accompanying me. 



I contented myself by botanising over the eastern declivities of the 

 mountains for a few days, and returned to the Columbia on Sunday the 25th. 

 All this time, toil, and some vexation, were not spent without being produc- 

 tive of some pleasure. In those untrodden regions on the verge of eternal 

 snow were Paeonia Brownii, the first ever found in America ; and at a 

 lower elevation the whole declivities of the mountains were covered with 

 Lupinus Sabinii (whose beautiful golden blossoms gave a tint to the country 

 that reminded me of Spartium scoparium),* Trifolium megacephalum 

 (Lupinaster macrocephalus, Pursh) , Trifolium altissimum, and several new 

 species of Phlox. 



Near to the junction of Lewis and Clarke's River with the Columbia 

 I remained till July 8th, when tired of this barren country which scarcely 

 afforded food more especially this season, for, from the unusually high 

 state of the water, no barriers could be made in the small stream to take 

 salmon and no net could be used in the Columbia ; horse-flesh was therefore 

 the principal food. I descended the river to the Gr[eat] Falls, where I had 

 the good fortune to meet the Brigade of Boats on their way to the interior 

 and letters for me from England. I returned and walked to Wallawallah 

 a second time, on Saturday the 15th. 



July Ibth to August 5th. In the hope of increasing my collection and 

 knowledge of the country, I left this place, attached to a party of twenty- 

 eight men commanded by Messrs. Archibald McDonald and John Work, 

 1 Cytisus scoparius, Hook. f. Stud. Fl. Brit. IsL ed. 3. p. 92. 



