THADDAEUS HAENKE. 25 



SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATIONS OF THE ISLAND. 



MALASPINA EXPEDITION. 



In February, 1792, Guam was vi.sited ])y Alessandro Malaspina, in 

 command of the corvettes Atrevida and Desciibierta, which had been 

 sent by Carlos IV, King of Spain, on a yoyage of scientific inyestiga- 

 tion. Attached to hi.s expedition as naturalists were Thaddaeus Haenke 

 and Luis Nee, who were the tirst to make systematic botanical collec- 

 tion.s on the island. They were also the lirst l)otanist.s to yisit Cali- 

 fornia, haying the preceding year collected in the yicinity of San Diego 

 and Monterey.'^ 



The story of Haenke's adyentures while attempting to join Mala- 

 spina is told both in the official narrative of the expedition and in the 

 preface to Presl's Reliquia' Haenkeana?. Haenke was a Bohemian by 

 birth. He received his botanical education from Jacquin, who for a 

 time was professor of chemistry and botany in Vienna, and upon his 

 reconnnendation was appointed botanist of the expedition by the King 

 of Spain. Although he set out for Cadiz immediately on receiving 

 his appointment, he reached that port onh" to lind that the two cor- 

 vettes had just set sail (July 30, 1789). Following them in the first 

 vessel bound for Montevideo, he suffered shipwreck on one of the 

 numerous shoals at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, losing nearly all 

 his books, papers, and effects. He succeeded in reaching shore, how- 

 ever, with his Linna?us and a collecting outfit, but he found that the 

 expedition had alread}' sailed. Knowing that it was to stop on the coast 

 of Chile, he set out at once on foot, crossing the Pampas of Argentina 

 and the Chilean cordillera of the Andes, collecting and drying plants 

 on the wa^^'^ On reaching Santiago, Chile, to his great joy he found 

 there Malaspina and a number of his officers, who had left their ships 

 at anchor in the harbor of Valparaiso to pay an official visit to the 

 capital. He immediately reported foi- duty and was assigned to the 

 Descuhiet'ta. 



The expedition skirted the coasts of South America, Mexico, and 

 North America as far as Port Mulgravc, which is situated in Yakutat 

 Bay, southern Alaska. Their exploration of the latter region is com- 

 memorated 1)}' the name of the celeV)rated Malaspina Glacier. Return- 

 ing to Mexico, Haenke went alone on a collecting tour from Acapulco 

 to Mexico Cit}" and back. Leaving Acapulco on December 21, 1791, 

 the expedition sailed for Guam, coming to anchoi- on Februaiy 12, 



« See Brewer, in Geological Survey of California, Botany, vol. 2, p. 553, 1880. 



^ " Con un verdadero amor ;i las ciencias y particularmente :i la botanica, conside- 

 raba resarcidos en mucha parte los sufriiuientos pasados, pues le habian deparado la 

 ca.sualidad de atravesar las Pampns o Jlamiras de Buenos Aires y las eordilleras del 

 Chile, logrando aeopiar liasta 1,400 i)huita!^, la mayor parte nuevas o no bien carac- 

 terizadas." Official narrative, p. 86, 1885. 



