EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 95 



to show blossom. On the middle slopes there were quite a number 

 of eastern species and those noted at Victoria were congregated 

 around a little moisture on the top." 



During the next day and a half, I employed myself by climbing 

 among the rocks and collected many interesting forms; amongst 

 other rare things, I had the good fortune to re-discover Saxifraga 

 ranunculifolia Hook. This species seems never to have been 

 found since its discovery by the lamented Douglas. I found it 

 in the high cliffs some distance from where the road turns to go 

 up the Fraser. Dr. Gray told me there were no specimens in 

 American herbaria and that my discovery was interesting. While 

 climbing amongst the rocks I came across a crevice filled with 

 ice, within less than fifty feet from the river, and from which a 

 large supply could be taken. 



On the afternoon of the 18th of May, I started on foot up 

 the Cariboo road expecting a conveyance to overtake me and 

 carry me to Boston Bar that afternoon. A few miles on the Yale 

 side of Boston Bar we turned the point of the mountain and, al- 

 most immediately, the plants showed that there was less precipita- 

 tion and ; on looking back, I at once detected the cause, in the 

 mountains acting as a barrier to keep out the superabundant 

 moisture of the lower Fraser Valley. 



"May 19th. This morning, we were on our way long before 

 the sun shone above the horizon. As we proceeded, the vegetation 

 gave more and more indications of dryness, and at Butcher's 

 Flat, Pinus ponderosa, the pine of the interior plateaux, was to be 

 seen in some abundance. After crossing Jackass Mountain, 

 which intercepts whatever little moisture goes up the valley from 

 Boston Bar, just as the range below that locality shuts out the 

 moist winds of the coast, the traveller will see by looking back 

 that it blocks up the valley while the river, much compressed, 

 winds round its base. Now all is changed; the sage brush (Ar- 

 temisia tridentata) becomes frequent and, at Lytton, a group of 

 Nevada plants is the characteristic flora. Vegetation was far 

 advanced here, in fact ahead of Victoria, as roses were seen in 

 flower for the first time a little above Lytton. 



Proceeding up the Thompson river, the land gets dryer, so 



