THE CAYUGA FLORA. xxi 



dowy to a comparatively recent date. Although the Moravian mis- 

 sionaries, and particularly Bishop David Zeisberger, traversed this val- 

 ley not infrequently, as early as 1750, it was not settled by white men 

 till 1789, so that all the changes in vegetation which have taken place 

 have come about in less than a century. 



Sketch of the Explorations. 



The first professional botanist to penetrate any portion of this basin 

 was John Bartram, whose journey to Onondaga in 1743, was described 

 above. His journey was not primarily a botanical one, and his book 

 entitled : "Observations on the Inhabitants etc., in Travels from Penn- 

 sylvania to Lake Ontario," was printed in London, 1751, and is now a 

 rare work. 



Not many years after Peter Kalm, Professor of Qiconomy at the 

 University of Aobo in Swedish Finland, a friend of Linnaeus, was sent 

 over by the Swedish government, to collect seeds and plants for the 

 gardens and herbaria of that country. He collected extensively in 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Canada from 1748 till his 

 return in 1751. During 1750 he made a journey "along the Mohawk 

 to the Iroquois nations, where he got acquainted with the Mohawks, 

 Oneidas, Tuscaroras, Onondagas and Kayugaws." His "Travels into 

 North America," were published soon after his return and translated 

 into English in 1772 ; but while he gives minute accounts of some of 

 his experiences, his journey to, and life among the Six Nations is 

 scarcely touched upon in these volumes. His collections which were 

 very valuable went very largely into the Linnsean Herbarium, now in 

 England. 



Frederick Pursh, another European explorer, passed through Ith- 

 aca in 1807. He left a record of his journey, which was over- 

 looked until 1868, when it came to light in Philadelphia among some 

 papers in the possession of the Amer. Phil. Society. It was published 

 in the Gardener's Monthly and afterward in pamphlet form. The 

 following literal extract from Pursh ''s Journal', is of some general in- 

 terest, but chiefly so in revealing the abundance of introduced plants 

 even at that early day. He found nothing of importance in our re- 

 gion. His nomenclature will seem at the present time quite anti- 

 quated, and his English is somewhat broken : 



"July 6. — [1807.] — Left Tyoga-> up Cayuta Creek — Apocynum 

 andrasaemifolium very plenty in. the cleared lands ; in the oak woods 

 I observed the Lily often seen before, but I cannot reccollect which 

 species it is ;itisLilium foliis spassis verticjllatisque : caulle unifloro ; 

 floribus erectis, semipatentibus ; petalis uuguiculatis. The valley, 

 formed by Cayuta Creek is in soil and vegetation similar to the beech- 

 wood. Oxalis acetosella — but not plenty — Helle"borus viridis. Dra- 

 caena borealis, — Orchis fimbriata in full bloom — Dalibarda violoides in 

 fruit. The woods abount with sugar-maple ; The valley is in some 

 places very narrow and the creek very winding which obliged me 

 to wate it several times to keep the road— I heartyly expected to 

 reach the house this night, which had been recommended to me, to 

 stay at, but I dit come to it before it got dark. I observed in a small 

 run a species of Sium, as I suppose, withouitftowres, whose leaves un- 

 der the water were very fine divided and the upper ones only pin- 

 nate. I call it S. heterophyllum. From a small tavern whech is kept 



