MR. DOUGLAS' SECOND 
New Albion, and what a stimulus it was 
of kindred feelings, to share my labours 
and my toils and anxiety, such a letter 
makes all one's troubles seem light! I 
should indeed be delighted to have such a 
companion as the gentleman whom you 
describe, and whom I have hitherto only 
known by report. More than ten times as 
much could be effected by the united ex- 
ertions of two. 
I must now pass from London to Oahu, 
in the Sandwich Islands, all in one line! 
The ship touched no where on the eastern 
shore of South America, which to me was 
a great loss and disappointment, for I had 
icipated h advant researches 
made on that Continent and the Islands of 
the South Seas. It was not my fortune to 
climb the snowy Peak of Mouna Kaah, the 
highest ground in the known world, in that 
system of mountains; nor could I get to 
Mouna Roa, which at this instant is dread- 
fully agitated by volcanic fires, and has the 
largest crater ever seen by mortal eyes; 
but I did what was of more service to Bo- 
tany, in scaling the lofty and rugged peaks 
of Mouna Parrii, the seat of the great 
Akua, or God of Fire. The season was 
unfavourable, very rainy, and being just 
the conclusion of winter, I could only ob- 
fain Mosses and Ferns. I hope yet to vi- 
at this place again, under more favourable 
circumstances. I am most desirous of 
collecting materials for a Flora of this 
groupe, and think that one season, spent in 
ie botanizing among them, with the aid of the 
Banksian Herbarium, might effect this ob- 
Ject. The culminating points offer an al- 
Most unrivalled field for studying the Geo- 
graphy of Plants, from the Line of Palms 
to that of the Lichens. I was delighted 
With the people and with the kind treat- 
M I received, especially from those in- 
dividuals who had formed part of his late 
Jesty Riho-Riho's suite when he visited 
< Madam Boki, the Governess of 
e Island, entertained me splendidly. I 
Possess copies of all the books that have 
been published in Oahu, and the other is- 
Splendidly bound in tortoiseshell for 
c. X 
4 
tome! Situated as I am, without any one 
VISIT TO THE COLUMBIA. 147 
your library, but have at present no con- 
venient opportunity of sending them. The 
printing and all the workmanship is done 
by the islanders themselves. I arrived 
here on the 3rd of June, in eight months, 
from London; the passage was very plea- 
sant, as a fine gentlemanly person, a Lieu- 
tenant in the Royal Navy, was Captain. 
The lateness of my arrival, for it was the 
lst of July before I could leave the coast. 
for the Interior, has been a very serious 
drawback; the season proving unusually 
early, all the vernal plants, which are by 
far the most numerous, beautiful, and cu- 
rious here, were withered and decayed. It 
took me twenty-four days of hard labour 
to reach the very lofty chain of mountains 
on which I was in July, 1826; I again 
found my Peona (P. Brownii, Dougl. in 
Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. v. 1. p. 27), and in- 
cluding all my labours, there are, I should 
think, full one hundred new species, and 
perhaps some new genera, though I have 
yet only determined one, which is akin to 
CGEnothera. ; 
I have now just saved the sailing of the 
ship, and, after sixty days of severe fatigue, 
have undergone, as I can assure you, one 
of still more trying labour, in packing up 
three chests of seeds, and writing to Mr. 
Sabine and his brother. The Captain only 
waits for this letter, after which the ship 
bears away for Old England; I am truly 
sorry to see her go without my dried plants, 
but this is unavoidable, as I have not a bit 
of well-seasoned wood in which to place 
them, and should, moreover, be unwilling 
to risk the whole collection in one vessel ; 
and the sails are already unfurled, so that 
it would be impossible to attempt dividing 
them. I however transmit one bundle of 
six species, exceedingly beautiful, of the 
genus Pinus. Among these, P. nobilis is 
by far the finest. I spent three weeks in 
a forest composed of this tree, and day by 
day could not cease to admire it; in fact, - 
my words can be only monotonous ex- 
pressions of this feeling. I have a 
one new species during this journey, P. 
grandis, a noble tree, akin to P. balsamea, 
groving from one hundred and seventy to 
