CHAP. IT. 



BRITISH ISLANDS. 



appears by the catalogue, before referred to, of plants sold in 

 1806, in which several species of Lyon/a are mentioned. Mr. 

 Lyon, it is believed, died in 1818. 



David Douglas v^^as born at Scone, near Perth, and served 

 his apprenticeship, as a gardener, in the gardens of the Earl of 

 Mansfield. About the year 1817 he removed to Valleyfieldj, 

 the seat of Sir Robert Preston, Bart., then celebrated for a 

 choice collection of exotics, and shortly afterv^^ards went to the 

 Botanic Garden of Glasgow. Here his fondness for plants 

 attracted the notice of Dr. Hooker, the professor of botany, 

 whom he accompanied in his excursions through the Western 

 Higlilands, and assisted in collecting materials for the Flora 

 Scotica^ with which Dr. Hooker was then engaged. This gentle- 

 man recommended him to the late secretary of the Horticultural 

 Society, Joseph Sabine, Esq., as a botanical collector; and in 

 1823 he was despatched to the United States, where he piro^. 

 cured many fine plants, and greatly increased the Society's 

 collection of fruit trees. He returned in the autumn of the same 

 year; and in 1824 an opportunity having offered, through the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, of sending him to explore the botanical 

 riches of the country adjoining the Columbia river, and south- 

 w^ards towards California, he sailed in July for the purpose of 

 prosecuting this mission. 



While the vessel touched at Rio de Janeiro, he collected 

 many rare orchideous plants and bulbs. Among the latter was 

 a new species of Gesnerzff, which Mr. Sabine named, in honour 

 of its discoverer, G. Douglas/f. He was enraptured with the 

 rich vegetation of a tropical country ; he stopped at Rio longer 

 than he anticipated, and left it with regret. In the course of his 

 voyage round Cape Horn he shot many curious birds peculiar 

 to the southern hemisphere, and prepared them for sending 

 home. On Christmas-day he reached the celebrated island of 

 Juan Fernandez, which he describes as " an enchanting spot, 

 very fertile, and delightfully wooded. I sowed a large collection 

 of garden seeds, and expressed a wish they might prosper, and 

 add to the comfort of some future Robinson Crusoe, should one 

 appear." He arrived at Fort Vancouver, on the Coliunbia, oa 

 the 7th of April, 1825. Here an extensive field presented itself 

 to him ; and tlie excellent manner in which he performed his 

 duty to the Horticultural Society cannot be better exemplified 

 than by referring to the vast collections of seeds which firom time 

 to time he transmitted home, along with dried specimens, beauti- 

 fully preserved, and now forming part of the herbarium in the 

 garden of the Society at Chiswick. Of the genus Pinus he dis- 

 covered several species, some of which attain to an enormous 

 size. The Pinus Lambertmwa, M'hich he named in compliment 

 to Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Esq., vice-president of the Linnsean 



