44 CONTINUATION OF BOTANICAL STUDIES 



this. This winter, I read Professor Agassiz's Lake Superior and 

 adopted his view of that Lake. He gave a real picture of it as it 

 was and I noted his statements carefully. 



I was now known outside of Belleville and Mr. George Barn- 

 ston and Mr. David Watt of Montreal asked me if I would make 

 a botanical trip to Lake Superior and collect everything in that 

 line. I was glad of the chance. They agreed to furnish the 

 money if I would give them the greater part of the specimens. 

 At this time there were few inhabitants around the Lake, except 

 at the Hudson's Bay Co.'s trading posts. Mr. Donald A. Smith 

 (Lord Strathcona) was then Commissioner of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company and he gave me a circular letter to each officer around 

 the Lake to receive me as a guest and help me in every way, 

 which all did without exception. 



Early in July, 1869, I sailed from Collingwood on the "Old 

 Algoma" and had a wonderful time for nearly two months. I 

 collected at many places around the Lake and stayed for two 

 weeks at Fort William with Mr. John Mclntyre, who was in 

 charge, and, being an old traveller, was very entertaining. In 

 Agassiz's Lake Superior, he spoke of seeing the cows and their 

 calves swimming across the Kaministikwia every morning to feed 

 and returning at night. He saw them in 1848 and I saw them do 

 the same thing in 1 869. They may do it yet. My collections were 

 very large and contained many rare species, which I picked up 

 everywhere we stopped. We had sixteen horses and a large lot 

 of lumber which was intended for Mr. Dawson who was just 

 starting the "Dawson Road" that cut such a figure during the 

 next ten years. The lumber was used to build the first house at 

 Port Arthur, as it was named afterwards. There I saw the first 

 specimens of Rubus nutkana, which is so common on Vancouver 

 Island. Besides going to many places of interest I made observa- 

 tions on climate and gained light on one problem. Agassiz placed 

 the flora around as mostly subarctic, but I found that that state- 

 ment only held close to the lake, while I found the plants a few 

 hundred yards back from the lake almost identical with those 

 north of Belleville. I saw the cause at once, the lake water ac- 

 cording to Agassiz was 48° F. at midsummer and 120 miles of 



