Botanical Excursion to the Mountains of North Carolina. 9 



the close of February, crossed the Cumberland Mountains early 

 in March, reached Knoxville on the 8th, Greenville on the 18th, 

 Jonesborough on the 19th, and on the 22nd, crossed the Iron 

 Mountains into North CaroHna, descended Cane Creek [which 

 rises in the Roan,] and spent several days in exploring the moun- 

 tains in the vicinity, with his former guide, Davenport. In 

 April he returned to Charleston by his usual route ; and on the 

 13th of August embarked for Amsterdam in the shipOphir. This 

 vessel was wrecked on the coast of Holland, on the 10th of Oc- 

 tober, and Michaux lost a part of the collections he had with 

 him: on the 23rd of December, 1796, he arrived at Paris with 

 the portion he had saved. This notice of the travels of Michaux 

 on this continent, will suffice to show with what untiring zeal 

 and assiduity his laborious researches were prosecuted ; it should 

 however be remarked, that greater facilities were afforded him, 

 in some important respects, than any subsequent botanist has en- 

 joyed ; the expenses of his journey having been entirely defrayed 

 by the French government, under whose auspices and direction 

 they were undertaken. 



The name of Fraser, so familiar in the annals of North Amer- 

 ican botany, ought, perhaps, to have preceded that of Michaux in 

 our brief sketch; since the elder Mr. Fraser, who had visited 

 Newfoundland previous to the year 1784, commenced his re- 

 searches in the Southern States as early as 1785 ; and Michaux, 

 on his first expedition to the mountains in 1787, speaks of hav- 

 ing travelled in his company for several days. We believe, how- 

 ever, that he did not explore the Alleghany Mountains until 1789. 

 Under the patronage of the Russian government, he returned to 

 this country in 1799, accompanied by his eldest son, and revisit- 

 ed the mountains, ascending the beautiful Roan, where, "on 

 a spot which commands a view of five States, namely, Kentucky, 

 Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina, the eye 

 ranging to a distance of seventy or eighty miles when the air is 

 clear, it was Mr. Fraser's good fortune to discover and collect 

 living specimens of the new and splendid Rhododendron Cataw- 

 biense, from which so many beautiful hybrid varieties have since 

 been obtained by skillful cultivators."* The father and son re- 



* Biographical Sketch of John Fraser, the Botanical Collector, in Hooker's Com- 

 panion to the Botanical Magazine, 2, p. 300 ; an article from vvhicli I have derived 

 nearly all the information I possess respecting the researches of the Frasers in this 



Vol. xLii, No. 1.— Oct.-Dec. 1841. 2 



