LU 
MR. DOUGLAS' SECOND VISIT TO THE COLUMBIA. 
is my Bichenovia, a plant worthy of the 
Botanist to whom I dedicate it, as he is 
worthy of it.1 The others are both annual 
and too curious for me to describe. By 
far the most singular and highly interesting 
plant here belongs to a genus, in some re- 
spects akin to Salvia; it is annual, and I 
have called it Wellsia, after Mr. Wells of 
Redleaf, in Kent (Audibertia incana, 
Benth. in Bot. Reg. t. 1469). This, with 
many others, I trust you may yet have the 
pleasure of describing from living speci- 
mens, as I have sent to London upwards 
of one hundred and fifty nondescript plants, 
which I hope will bloom next season. 
As I shall, if it please God, have the hap- 
piness of writing to you again shortly, I 
will, at present, only tell you of my pro- 
_ jects. I am in daily expectation of a ves- 
sel from the Columbia, in which I shall 
embark to renew my labours in the North. 
Should she not arrive before the 10th of 
December, I will take my passage in an 
American vessel for the Sandwich Islands, 
where I shall not fail to endeavour to scale 
the lofty peaks of Mouna Roa or Mouna 
Kaah (the White or Snowy Mountain) in 
quest of Flora’s treasures, and proceed to 
the North-West coast in the ensuing spring. 
I have met the Russian Authorities twice 
since I last wrote to you, and have received 
the utmost kindness from them. Two days 
ago I received a letter from Baron Wran- 
gel, Governor of the Russian Possessions 
in America and the Aleutian Isles, full of 
compliments, and offering me all manner 
assistance, backed by Imperial favour 
from the Court? This nobleman is, as 
you are well aware, the Captain Parry of 
Russia, keenly alive to the interests of 
Science, and anxious to assist, in every 
wey those who labour in this field. 
Since I began this letter, Dr. Coulter, 
from the Central States of the Republic 
ea rigidum, Benth. and Hook. Ic. 
>t, 87. 
2 . 
aud nobleman had been, some little time previ- 
through the kindness of our valued friend, Dr. Fis- 
Sher, af St. Petersburgh, as well as that of the Impe- 
rial Minister in London. The same subject is alluded 
to um à succeeding letter. 
151 
of Mexico, has arrived here, with the in- 
tention of taking all he can find to De Can- 
dolle at Geneva. He is a man eminently 
calculated to work, full of zeal, very amia- 
ble, and I hope may do much good to Sci- 
ence. As a salmon-fisher he is superior 
even to Walter Campbell, of Islay, Esq., 
the Izaak Walton of Scotland; besides 
being a beautiful shot with a rifle, nearly 
as successful as myself! And I do assure 
you, from my heart, it is a terrible plea- 
sure to me thus to meet a really good man, 
and one with whom I can talk of plants. 
River Columbia, Oct. 23, 1832, 
Your truly welcome and highly-prized 
letter of Oct. 10, 1830, I had the pleasure 
to receive from Captain Charlton, our Con- 
sul at the Sandwich Islands, on my arrival 
at that place from the coast of California in 
August last. I esteem this mark of your 
regard as not the least of the many favours 
you have shown me. It affords me sincere 
delight to hear of the health of your family, 
and the great progress you have made in 
your publications, the improvement of the 
apartments in which you keep your collec- 
tions, and the prodigious increase of your 
Herbarium. I carry your letter about in 
my note-book, and when on my walks by 
the side of some solitary creek, the idea 
not unfrequently occurs to me, that I 
may have overlooked some part of it, out 
comes your epistle for another perusal.— 
Letters are indeed rare things to me in this 
part of the world. 
I have had no opportunity of writing to 
you since last year by any conveyance that 
might be considered safe. I did so from - 
Montérey, in Upper California, in October 
1831, and sent it by way of Mexico, under 
the care of our Consul at the Port of San 
Blas; there I detailed to you the extent of 
my travels in that territory, and the pro- 
gress of my collections, as well as gave 
3 Dr. Coulter has, some time ago, returned to this 
country, with, we believe, a most extensive Herba- _ 
rium, formed in Mexico and California. The living 
Cacti which he sent from the former country to Pro- 
fessor De Candolle of Geneva, and to Mr. Mackay of 
the Dublin College Botanic Garden, are particularly 
ng. 
* t 
interesti 
