172 DOUGLAS' JOURNAL 



(60) Cynoglossum (?) sp. ; perennial ; leaves alternate, pinnate ; stem 

 leaves and calyx woolly ; flowers capitate, white ; antter yellow ; a fine 

 little plant, 6 inches to a foot high ; on dry sandy hills ; plentiful. 



(61) Oxytrofis or Astragalus missouriensis, var. alba, of Nuttall (?) ; 

 flowers faint white and yellow, carmine tinged with purple ; this very 

 interesting smaU plant is found in great abundance on all dry gravelly 

 soils and among rocks. 



(62) Ribes sp. ; leaves three-lobed, smooth, serrate, covered on the 

 back with small golden glands ; flowers erect, in a long spike, white, 

 fragrant ; wood white ; an exceedingly handsome strong-growing plant, 

 i to 10 feet high, with an aromatic scent like the common black currant ; 

 in rocky places ; plentiful ; make every effort to procure seeds of this 

 highly ornamental plant ; as I think it new. In conjunction with the 

 above, R. aureum ; R. sp.. No. 20 ; R. with small green flowers all collected ; 

 also Alyssum sp., Collomia linearis of Nuttall, apparently a small variety of 

 that collected last year. As they were finer specimens than any in my 

 possession, I could not resist laying a few of each in, having a spare sheet of 

 paper. Mr. Finlay tells me that R. aureum in that neighbourhood produces 

 very fine large yellow fruit ; that he never saw it black or brown. The 

 white one, red small solitary berries of a pleasant taste. This agrees with 

 my note last year.i as I took specimens in blossom this spring from the 

 same bush that I gathered fruit last year at the Great Falls on the 

 Columbia ; the green flowering one, a small black gooseberry. No. 62 he 

 never saw before. I requested he should dry me seeds of aU the sorts as. 

 well as a fine species of Allium, the roots of which were brought from forty 

 miles above, on the banks of the Spokane Eiver. Eoot as large as a nut, 

 very pleasant and mild. 



Saturday, 13th.— As I thought of bending my steps again towards the 

 Columbia, Mr. Finlay ofiered that one of his sons should escort me, which 

 I accepted. Before parting with him I made inquiry about a sort of sheep 

 found in this neighbourhood, about the same size as that described by 

 Lewis and Clarke, but instead of wool it has short thick coarse hair of a 

 brownish-grey, from which it gets the name of Mouton Gris of the voya- 

 geurs.2 The horns of the male, of a dirty-white colour, form a volute, 



* 1 Bibes ; peduncle very long, erect ; fruit proUfio, large, round, smooth, black 

 and glossy, juicy ; taste good, exactly like the common black currant, but more acid. 

 This may (should it produce fruit in England) prove worthy of cultivation as a fruit 

 in addition to its showy beautiful fragrant blossoms — [Jtily 20th, 1826). 



* ^ Mouton Gris of the voyageurs, or grey sheep. Although I have made every 

 possible exertion in my power to put myself in possession of this interesting animal, 

 I am still tmable to procure any — and can say little of it, having never had an oppor- 

 tunity of seeing it aKve. 



It is by all the hunters said to agree with that discovered by Lewis and Clarke on 

 the head- waters of the Missouri, near their pass in the Kocky Mountains, which is 

 certainly erroneous. As I had an opportunity of seeing the whole animals collected 

 during their expedition (now in Philadelphia Museum), I can mthout hesitation say 

 that the Mouton Gris of the voyageurs is a perfectly distinct and still more interesting 

 animal. In size and shape like the common sheep, sometimes 150 to 240 lb. avoir- 

 dupois, destitute of wool, hair short, coarse and thick, of a light brownish-grey ; flank, 

 back part of the thigh, and on the hips of a faint dirty-white. Horns of the male very 

 large, curved backwards, forming a perfect volute, the point inclining inwards j 



* Footnotes made by Douglas. — Ed. 



