36 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



gratified by Mr. Douglas using his razor upon his face, 

 in return for which kindness he accompanied the botanist 

 "all along the coast and sixty miles up the Cheecheetin 

 river/^ "When he met with the giant fir that has been 

 named in remembrance of him, he makes note in his journal 

 that " new or strange things seldom fail to make great im- 

 pressions, and we are often at first liable to overrate them; " 

 and further on he remarks, " lest I should never see my 

 friends to tell them verbally of these most beautiful and 

 extremely large trees. '^ 



The career of Douglas was as brief as it was brilliant. 

 At the age of 36, being then engaged in botanical explora- 

 tions in the Sandwich Islands, he fell into a pit that had 

 been designed as a trap for buifaloes, and wherein one 

 had been already caught. The infuriated beast killed the 

 intruder, but not without a struggle, for the unhappy man 

 fought hard for his life. This occurred July 12, 1834. 



