﻿C. S. Sargent — Journey of Andre Miohaux. 467 



— you will permit me, I hope, to invite your attention to a few 

 remarks suggested by my journey. In doing this I venture 

 to remind you of the fact, not without interest to the younger 

 generations of botanists, that it is just forty-five years (or nearly 

 half the century which separates us from the time when Andre* 

 Michaux was engaged in exploring the flora of North America), 

 since you made known to the botanical world through the 

 pages of this Journal some of the results of your first journey 

 in the Carolina Mountains and traced the foot-steps of your 

 botanical predecessor in that field.* 



The principal object of Michaux, as will appear later, was 

 to gather living plants of Magnolia cordata. This tree, although 

 still preserved and now very generally distributed in gardens, 

 has never so far as I am aware, been found growing naturally 

 since the days of the Michauxs. The object of my journey was 

 to rediscover it. where Michaux was thought to have found it, 

 and so throw some light upon its specific character and geo- 

 graphical distribution. But, before entering upon any discus- 

 sion of this subject, it is desirable to determine if possible what 

 plant Michaux set out to collect, and the exact region visited 

 by him for this purpose. Fortunately the manuscript diary of 

 Michaux's travels in North America, presented by his son. 

 F. A. Michaux, to the American Philosophical Society, aids 

 us here. 



Michaux left Augusta on the 21st of November, 1788. On 

 the 24th he arrived at Washington, in Wilkes County, Georgia, 

 where a serious attack of fever detained him until the 29th. 

 He reached the head of the Savannah Eiver on the second of 

 December and then ascended its western fork, the Tugalo, for 

 several days. Here he secured the services of a Cherokee 

 guide and crossed some of the spurs of the Blue Ridge into 

 the valley of the Keowee Eiver, camping on the banks of that 

 stream on the evening of the 7th. The remainder of his jour- 

 ney will best be described in his own words. 



"Le 8 Decembre, 1788, a mesure que nous approchions de 

 la source du Keivi, les chemins devinrent plus difficiles. Notre 

 marche fut de . . . . et deux miles avant d'y arriver je recon- 

 nus le Magnolia montana qui a ete nomme" M. cordata ou auri- 

 culata par Bartram. II y avait en ce lieu une petite cabane 

 habitee par une famille de sauvage Cherokees. Nous nous 

 arretames pour y camper et je courrus faire des recherches. 

 Je recueillis un nouvel arbuste a f. dentelees rampant sur la 

 montagne a peu de distance de la riv. Le temps changea et 

 nous eumes de la pluie toute la nuit, quoique nous fassions a 



* Notes of a Botanical Excursion in the mountains of North Carolina, etc., by- 

 Asa Gray, M.D., vol. xlii, No. 1, December, 1841. 



