n. PE 
P 
nena ie 
MR. DOUGLAS’ SECOND VISIT TO THE COLUMBIA. 
tries on this point is vague and imperfect, 
the senses being generally the test. Fre- 
quently have I sunk the internal thermo- 
meter of Daniell’s hygrometer many de- 
grees below zero, until the ball of the in- 
strument was clothed with hoar-frost, and 
not the smallest particle of moisture could, 
on the most accurate scrutiny, be detected ! 
My Meteorological Journal is, I trust, com- 
plete, and should such be wanted, will 
furnish ample data for an essay on this 
beautiful country. 
Not having received any letter from 
England, I cannot definitively state what 
will be the direction of my future journey. 
Should I receive no fresh orders, I shall, 
as I stated before leaving home, proceed to 
the northward of the Columbia, skirting 
the western flanks of the Rocky Mountains, 
as far as convenience and safety will allow, 
and endeavour to reach the sea to the west- 
. Ward, to some of the Russian Establish- 
ments, or return by the same route, as may 
appear most desirable. On this point I 
shall be able to inform you in my next. 
I have had two most kind letters from 
Baron Wrangel, Governor of the Russian 
Territories in America, and of the Aleutian 
ands, to whom I was made known 
through the Russian Minister at the Court 
of London, In his first he writes thus, 
Which I know it will be pleasant to you to 
know, as it is highly agreeable to me:— 
" J'ai appris avec une vive joie vôtre in- 
tention de faire une tournée dans nos en- 
virons. Soyez sûr, Monsieur, que jamais 
Visite ne m'a été plus agréable, et que 
des bras ouverts vous attendent à Sitka. Si 
Vous avez l'intention de retourner en Eu- 
Tope, par la Sibérie, je puis vous assurer 
qu'au mois de Mai de l'année prochaíne, 
vous pourrez commodement aller sur un 
de nos navires à Okotsk, où, d'après des 
nouvelles que je viens d'apprendre, on 
. Vous a deja preparé un gracieux accueil." 
This is more than kind, and the facilities 
offered for May, 1832, of course hold good 
for ensuing years. This letter was accom- 
panied by a copy of a volume published in 
1829, Recueil des Actes de l'Académie de 
St. Petersbourg, containing some very in- 
155 
teresting accounts of the Russian expedi- 
tions to Mount Ararat; also an outline of 
Mertens' labours with Capt. Lutke's Pen- 
dulum and Experiments made during his 
voyage. The Baron wrote me a second 
letter, and being fearful that I might not 
have received his first, took care to give 
me the same information, backed with ad- 
ditional assurances of his good will I 
have had the advantage of seeing Cyrill 
Klebinkoff, Chief Director of the Russian- 
American Fur Company, an excellent man, 
who has great claims on my gratitude, as 
well as several Officers of the Imperial 
Navy. Indeed they seem to be a set of 
people whose whole aim is to make you 
happy. You have my best thanks for re- 
plying to Dr. Fischer of St. Petersburgh ; 
I shall write to him when opportunity of- 
fers. 
I have a great desire to become better 
acquainted with the vegetation of the 
Sandwich Islands, as I am sure much re- 
mains to be done there, and before quitting 
that country I made conditional arrange- 
ments with Capt. Charlton, our Consul, to 
aid me, should I return. This I shall ear- 
nestly endeavour to do. The Consul is a 
most amiable and excellent person. In 
Ferns alone, I think there must be five 
hundred species. 
I will trouble you to offer my kind re- — 
gards to my old friends, Mr. Murray and. 
Dr. Scouler, and say to the latter that I 
have a tolerable collection of bones for 
him, but as I thought he would himself 
enjoy the job of cleansing them, I have 
only cut away the more fleshy parts, by 
which means, too, they hang better toge- 
ther. They consist of a Sea Otter, entire; 
Wolves, Foxes, Deer, a Panther's head, 
&c. I shall send them by the earliest op- 
portunity. You may also tell him that 
human heads are now plentiful in the Co- 
lumbia, a dreadful intermittent fever having 
depopulated the neighbourhood of the ri- 
ver; not twelve grown-up persons remain 
of those whom we saw when he and 1 were 
here together in 1825." . 
The following was a sort of postscript to 
the above letter, but addressed to a young 
