137 



writing and was apparently written by him after his return to 

 London in 1827. In contrast with the detailed notes in the 

 Journal now published, the brief narrative contains some inac- 

 curacies which have led to doubt being expressed concerning 

 Douglas's reliability. For example, in the abridged account he 

 speaks of the peak which he christened Mount Brown, as "the 

 highest peak yet known on the continent of America," and of the 

 neighboring Mount Hooker as of nearly the same height. As 

 Douglas was already familiar with the high peaks of the Cascade 

 Mountains, his statements were long accepted by geographers, 

 but modern measurements give Mount Brown the rather modest 

 elevation of 9,050 feet. 



Douglas was for a time greatly lionized after his return to Lon- 

 don, and it was doubtless this influence which inspired the ex- 

 aggerated statements in his brief account of his travels, and it 

 is refreshing to find no trace of this spirit of boastfulness or ex- 

 aggeration in the detailed narrative now published. 



From the standpoint of the historian the journal is interesting 

 and illuminating from the side lights which it throws on the men 

 who were the most active agents of the Hudson Bay Company 

 in the Northwest and on the methods used in their commercial 

 operations; to the botanist the detailed narrative will help clear 

 up many of the mooted points concerning the exact locality where 

 Douglas found each of his new plants. Several of these plants, 

 strange to say, have never since been found. 



The publication of Douglas's Journal unabridged is in part 

 due to the efforts of the reviewer who four years ago con- 

 sulted the original manuscripts in London and finding them 

 very different from the abridged accounts already published, 

 urged upon the Royal Horticultural Society the desirability of 

 printing them complete. Not only has the Society done this, 

 but they have also included a number of other papers by Douglas 

 never before published. 



C. V. Piper 



