293 APPENDIX I 



On July 25, 1824, he left England, the narrative of his adventures being 

 recorded in his own handwriting both in a condensed form, pp. 51-76, and also 

 in more or less regular daily entries in his Journal, pp. 77-293. / 



In the 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' under date April 27, 1837, it is 

 recorded that Mr. Sabine received from Douglas several volumes of lunar, 

 chronometrical, magnetical, meteorological and geographical observations, 

 together with a volume of field sketches. The geographical observations of 

 latitude and longitude refer to two distinct tracts of country : first, the Columbia 

 River, and its tributaries, and the district to the westward of them ; and 

 secondly, California. Douglas very judiciously selected the junctions of rivers, 

 and other well-characterised natural points, as stations for geographical deter- 

 mination. The papers containing the details of his magnetical inquiries 

 comprise records of observation of the dip, and of the intensity, at various 

 stations. 



What may have become of these interesting volumes I have not been able to 

 trace, the only books in the Royal Horticultural Society's possession being the 

 Journals reproduced in the present volume. The enthusiasm with which he 

 carried out his instructions and the energy he shewed, coupled with the difficulties 

 he encountered and overcame, are amply apparent in the Journals themselves and 

 do not need to be recapitulated here. It is interesting to notice that he met 

 with Sir John Franklin at Norway House, when he was returning overland from 

 his second Arctic expedition. He sailed from Hudson Bay on September 15, 

 and arrived at Portsmouth on October 11, 1827. 



In the seventh volume of the ' Transactions ' of the Horticultural Society, 

 December 1830, it is mentioned that Douglas had brought home with him an 

 even far greater number of plants and seeds than he had previously sent home, 

 and that from them 210 distinct species had been raised in the Society's Gardens, 

 80 of which being then considered to be only " Botanical curiosities " were 

 " abandoned " and 130 species were grown on and distributed to all parts of the 

 world. 



The President and Council were so gratified by the result of Douglas's expedi- 

 tion that they persuaded him to return, which he did in October 1829, with the 

 intention of undertaking a wider exploration in the same general districts as 

 before, but the unsettled state of the country and the tribal wars going on amongst 

 the natives made this impossible. He therefore transferred his attention from 

 the Columbia River to California and landed at San Francisco in 1831, whence he 

 journeyed to Monterey, where he was well received by the monks and afforded 

 every facility in their power for exploring the neighbouring country. He re- 

 mained there during the summer of 1831, intending to return to the Columbia 

 River in the autumn ; but being unable to find any ship or other means of 

 transport he was compelled to spend another season in Calif ornia making various 

 excursions to the ulterior, and finally in August 1832 he sailed to the Sandwich 

 Islands, from whence he despatched to this country his Californian collections 

 of seeds and plants and later on returned to the Columbia River. From this 

 collection of seeds more species were raised in the Society's Gardens. 



On his way from the Sandwich Islands to the Columbia River he received 

 intelligence that his personal friend Mr. Sabine had resigned the secretaryship of 

 the Society, and through some misconception of the cause Douglas also resigned 

 his appointment of Collector. For more than a year, however, he continued 

 travelling in North Western America. 



Of the last eighteen months of his life very little is known. In a letter written 

 from the Columbia River and dated October 24, 1832, he expressed a great desire 

 to become better acquainted with the vegetation of the Sandwich Islands and 



