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on board the Vincennes in San Francisco bay (the other sloop-of- 
war, the Peacock, had been wrecked during July in the Puget 
Sound region), and the expedition set sail again on the first day 
of November, 1841. The route lay westward across the Pa- 
cific, with a stop of about a week in Hawaii, through the Ladrones 
to the Philippines. While the Vincennes was at Manila, from 
the 13th to the 21st of January, 1842, the naturalists were often 
on shore, and Rich and Brackenridge were members of a party 
that set out to visit Taal volcano, then in eruption, but they 
failed to reach their destination. 
From Manila, the Vincennes sailed by way of the Sulu Archi- 
pelago to Singapore, the Cape of Good Hope, the island of St. 
Helena, and home, arriving at New York on the ninth of June, 
1842, nearly four years after the departure from the coast of 
Virginia. The expedition had accumulated vast collections in 
various departments of natural history, but the government had 
made no adequate provision for their care. For a few years they 
were intrusted to the National Institute, in Washington, then 
transferred to the Patent Office, and finally to the Smithsonian 
Institution, forming the nucleus of the National Museum of to- 
ay. Ina preliminary summary of the results of the expedition 
published shortly after its return, it is stated that about ten 
thousand species of plants were collected, from three to five 
specimens of each, and that about one hundred living plants and 
many seeds were brought back safely. 
The organization of the Exploring Expedition was maintained 
for many years, with Wilkes still in charge, while the results of 
the cruise were being prepared for publication. The Library 
Committee of Congress was placed in charge of the publication 
of the results. To Brackenridge was assigned the preparation of 
the manuscript relating to ferns, but he was also in charge of 
the collections of living plants and seeds, and this horticultural 
work occupied so much of his time that he had little left for 
literary effort. 
The first season, Brackenridge had at his disposal a greenhouse 
erected for the purpose on the lot behind the Patent Office; the 
building was about 50 feet long, partitioned into two apartments. 
