274) Obituari/. 



Medals as Prizes, we are inclined to think, are not in accordance with the 

 spirit of the age. Useful articles of an ornamental, an elegant, or of an in- 

 tellectual description, would, we should think, be more gratifying to the pos- 

 sessor : for example, a microscope, a case of drawing instruments, or a botanical 

 work, to a young gardener ; and a snufF-box, a cup, a teapot, a tea-tray, or 

 something of that kind, to a master gardener. What gratification can there 

 be in possessing twenty or thirty Banksian medals, pieces of jeweller's gold 

 or silver, about the size of eighteen-penny tokens ? We would suggest the 

 idea of giving prize numbers instead of medals, and leaving it to the option of 

 the party obtaining the prize number to present it either for a certain sum, or 

 for the medal itself, as he might choose. The party taking money instead of 

 medals might write, or have engraved, on the book or other article purchased 

 with it, " Purchased with prize numbers, received from the Hor- 



ticultural Society of London, between , 1830, and , 1836, 



as recorded in the Hurt. Soc. Trans., vol. ., p. ." (See Vol. V. p. 618.) 

 However, this is but the crude expression of an idea, written on the spur of 

 the moment, like many others in this Magazine, to be hereafter dilated oif by 

 ourselves or others, or thrown aside, as circumstances may direct. 



Art. VII. Obituary. 



Farther Details respecting the Death of Mr. Douglas. (See Vol. XL 

 p. 271.) — The following particulars of this most terrific occurrence are taken 

 from that excellent publication, the Mirror, for March 26. 1836. The editor 

 acknowledges having copied it from Ke Xiimu Haiuaii, a mission newspaper, 

 published at Honolulu, Oahu, which was kindly lent to him by a subscriber to 

 the Mirror. This newspaper is printed at the Mission Press of Oahu, and in 

 the native language of the Sandwich Islands, except the paper relating to Mr. 

 Douglas, which is in English. It appears that the lamentable event occurred 

 on July 12. 1834, six months sooner than, according to a notice in the Maga- 

 zine of Natural History (vol. viii. p. 410.), was supposed to be the case. 



" The document whence these particulars have been extracted is dated Hilo, 

 Hawaii (the principal of the Sandwich Islands), July 15. 1834, and is 

 addressed to Richard Charlton, Esq., his Britannic Majesty's consul there. 



" Intelligence of this distressing event reached Hilo on the morning of 

 July 14., when a native came up, and, with an expression of countenance 

 which indicated but too faithfully that he was the bearer of sad tidings, in- 

 quired for a Mr. Goodrich. On seeing him, he stated that the body of Mr. 

 Douglas had been found on the mountains in a pit excavated for the purpose 

 of taking wild cattle ; and that he was supposed to have been killed by the 

 bullock which was in the pit when Mr. Douglas fell in. Never were the feel- 

 ings of the writers of this letter so shocked ; nor could they credit the report 

 till it was painfully confirmed, as they proceeded to the beach, whither the 

 body of Mr. Douglas had been conveyed in a canoe by the native who brought 

 the news of his death. Upon further enquiry, this person related, in sub- 

 stance, as follows : — That on the evening of the 13th instant, the natives who 

 brought the body down from the mountain came to his house at Laupahoihoi, 

 about 25 or 30 miles distant from Hilo, and employed him to bring it to this 

 place in his canoe. The particulars which he learned from them were as 

 follows : — Mr. Douglas left Kohala Point during the previous week, in com- 

 pany with an Englishman as a guide, and proceeded to cross Moncna Kea on 

 the north side. On the 12th instant, Mr. Douglas dismissed his guide, who 

 cautioned him, on parting, to be very careful lest he should fall into some of 

 the pits for taking wild cattle ; describing them as being near the places to 

 which the animals resorted to drink. Soon after Mr. Douglas had dismissed 

 his guide, he went back a short distance to get a bundle, which he had for- 

 gotten ; and, as he was retracing his steps, in some fatal moment, he fell into 

 one of the pits, into which a bullock had previously fallen. He was found 

 dead in the pit by these same natives, who, ignorant, at the time, of his pass- 



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