﻿470 C. S. Sargent — Journey of Andre Michaux. 



chaux than many of his discoveries of new plants, and the pro- 

 visional name may well have escaped his memory in the midsc 

 of the perils and fatigues of his arduous life. 



There is certainly no evidence in this Journal that Michaux 

 had ever seen the Magnolia cordata of his flora at the time this 

 winter journey to the Blue Kidge was undertaken. No men- 

 tion is made of the discovery of such a plant during his journey 

 from the coast to the head waters of the Tennessee in the sum- 

 mer of 1767, when it is probable his first visit to the southern 

 mountains was made. Michaux had landed in America as 

 early as November of 1785. The first part of his journal is 

 lost, however, and it is impossible of course to speak with any 

 certainty of his movements during the first eighteen months of 

 his stay in the United States. He had become perfectly fami- 

 liar, however, as is shown by his journal, with the northern 

 trees prior to his southern mountain journey of 1787, and as 

 under date of January 14, 1787, he speaks of seeing, for the 

 first time in America, M. acuminata, one of the common and 

 most conspicuous trees of the southern mountain forests, it 

 appears probable that his early explorations were confined to 

 the sea-board and to the northern States. If this conclusion is 

 correct, it would prove that Michaux was not in pursuit of M. 

 cordata, for he would hardly have gone to the mountains in 

 December to search for a tree the existence of which even was 

 unknown to him. On the other hand, had he previously dis- 

 covered his J/, cordata and become familiar with its appearance, 

 he would not have undertaken, keen observer as he was, to 

 distinguish it in winter without foliage from M. acuminata, one 

 of the common trees of the region, although he would have 

 had no difficulty at any season of the year in distinguishing 

 the bark and bud scales of M. auriculata, the tree it must 

 appear evident he was in pursuit of. 



It has been suggested that the spot described by Michaux as 

 the " Tete du Keivi" might have been the junction of two 

 rapid mountain torrents, the White Water and the Devil's 

 Fork, which drain the eastern slope of the mountains between 

 the Tugalo and the Keowee, unite, and then join the Keowee. 

 It is more probable however, that the spot described as the 

 bead of the Keowee is the junction of the Toxaway and Horse 

 Pasture Kivers, several miles above the mouth of the White 

 Water and close to the North Carolina boundary, although 

 within the limits of the State of South Carolina. They are 

 swift rivers flowing through beds cut deep in the rock, broken 

 by innumerable rapids, and full of logs and bowlders; in each 

 about six miles from its mouth is a noble fall, or rather a series 

 of cascades of great height and beauty. It was near one of 

 these falls probably that Michaux wished to camp on the even- 



