Dr. Hooker on American Botany. 2S3 



The greater portion of the interior of this extended coun- 

 try, and its northern coast, remains to be explored and inves- 

 tigated by Captain Franklin and our inestimable friend Dr. 

 Richardson, together with the officers and men who will be 

 appointed to accompany them. Of the botanical acquire- 

 ments of the last-named gentleman we have the highest opin- 

 ion. For zeal in collecting he cannot be surpassed ; still, in 

 order that his collections may be more complete, and that a 

 greater extent of country may be embraced, he has, partly at 

 his own expense, and partly by the aid of government, re- 

 solved upon taking with him Mr. Drummond of Forfar, whom 

 we have already mentioned in this Journal most favourably, 

 as the author of a valuable work on the mosses of Scotland, 

 and whom we have no hesitation in pronouncing to be one of 

 the most acute and ardent followers of botany that this coun- 

 try possesses. 



The expedition, as is well known, will embark early in 

 February, and it will land at New- York. Captain Franklin, 

 Dr. Richardson, and Mr. Drummond will proceed together as 

 far as Red River on Lake Winipeg, or Carlton House on the 

 Saskatchawan, which will be Drummond's head-quarters for 

 two summers, from whence he will make excursions in com- 

 pany with the fur traders, at the head of that vast valley which 

 forms the extensive plain across the Missouri, and opens to- 

 wards Mexico. Here, therefore, he may be expected to 

 meet with a highly curious vegetation and plants, similar to 

 those which Nuttall, James, and Bradbury, discovered on the 

 banks of the Missouri itself. He will likewise have the op- 

 portunity of botanizing on the declivities of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, in lat. 52°. 



Captain Franklin and Dr. Richardson will proceed together 

 as far as the mouth of the Mackenzie river, which will pro- 

 bably be the extreme northern point attained by the latter ; 

 for his great object is to examine, with the utmost care, the 

 region which lies between Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers; 

 and here he will unquestionably more than supply the place 

 of those collections which were lost during the former jour- 

 ney. Captain Franklin again, and the officer that accompa- 

 nies him, will proceed from the mouth of the Mackenzie in 

 boats, to Behring's Straits ; they will doubtless devote as 

 much time as their other important avocations will permit, in 

 gathering plants and other objects of natural history ; and Dr. 

 Richardson will take care to instruct one or more of the party 



