WYETHIA ARIZONICA. ARIZONIAN WYETIIIA. I5I 



before the days of railroads and steamboats, when the whole in- 

 terior of our continent was given up to savages and wild beasts, 

 and was for thousands of miles a trackless wilderness, that men 

 could be found to push through from the Adantic to the Pacific 

 in search of plants, no matter how great their love or enthusiasm 

 for nature might be. But they were only able to do it by taking 

 advantage of every opportunity that promised safety. In the 

 case of the discovery of the WyctJiia a party of individuals in 

 New York and Boston formed themselves into a company witli 

 the object of establishing fishing, hunting and trading posts 

 along the line from the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River, 

 on the Pacific ; and resolved on sending an armed expedition 

 across the continent for this purpose. Thomas Nuttall, the bot- 

 anist, then in Philadelphia, desired to join this company in order 

 to get the chance to collect plants; and he was, in company with 

 Mr, Townsend, another member of the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, permitted to do so. They started by wagons 

 across Pennsylvania to Pittsburg, and from thence took a boat and 

 went down the Ohio to St. Louis, where they arrived on the 24th 

 of March, 1834, after this long winter voyage, in time to go with 

 the party. The expedition was commanded by Captain N. B. 

 Wyeth, who also had a pecuniary interest in the trading com- 

 pany. Mr. Townsend tells us of the enthusiasm of Mr. Nuttall 

 for his favorite pursuit, and which was, in a measure, communi- 

 cated to all the party, so that on one occasion, when the flowers 

 were more than usually lovely, the whole party " shouted 'beau- 

 tiful ! beautiful!' and Mr. Nuttall was here in his glory. He 

 rode far ahead of the company and cleared the passages with a 

 trembling and eager hand, looking anxiously back at the ap- 

 proaching party, as though he feared it would come and tread 

 his lovely prizes under foot. From this time Mr. Nuttall found 

 dozens of new species almost daily." After an immense amount 

 of hardship and suffering they arrived at their destination, and 

 Mr. Nuttall left the party to pursue his botanical investigations in 

 the Sandwich Islands and California. 



