252 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 22. 
MR. JOHN FRASER TO MR. FORSYTH. 
This is only to give you a short account of my proceed¬ 
ings. On the 11th of November, 1789, I set off from this 
place in a horse and chaise, which I purchased, in company 
with young Mr. Brooks, who was to have paid half of my 
expense when I sent Dr. Dorter by water to Savannah, and 
in six days we arrived safe in Savannah (distance 125 miles). 
Being covetous of a large collection, left Porter with Brooks, 
at Savannah, and went myself to Sunburry, forty miles to 
' the southward, and every mile of the road afforded me a new 
j scene, different to what I had seen before. There being no 
! inns on the road, I was forced to beg a night’s lodging at a 
Colonel Elliot’s, where I received the greatest civility. After 
making many enquiries concerning plants, Colonel Elliot’s 
son informed me where there was a very pretty red flower 
growing, and in the morning got his horse and went with me ; 
to my great satisfaction, I found it to he the Scarlet Ezilia 
(Azalea ?). Being destitute of hoes, spade, basket or ropes 
for carrying it, went to a plantation and borrowed a hoe ; as 
necessity is the mother of invention, I pulled off my great 
coat ancl wrapped them up in that, and carried them before 
me till I came to a public house, five miles from Sunburry, 
where I had an invitation from the landlord to go to several 
of the Sea Islands, where he and several others were going 
on a shooting party for ten days. This was too great a 
temptation to resist, although I promised to return in three 
days; but being convinced, as I thought, in my own mind 
of my friend Porter taking sufficient care of the collection 
I had already left, I accepted the offer. My friend Mr. 
Mclver, at whose house I should have been, was not at 
home, but I met with every civility I possibly could expect. 
The day following, the hunting party called on me, accord¬ 
ing to promise; we set off, seventeen of us, in a long 
canoe, made of the solid body of a large tree. All that 
. night we lay on moss, under a cedar tree; it rained all 
night, and next morning we had for breakfast oysters and 
hominy, and set out for Saplo Island, and arrived there at 
noon, same day; after, the party went deer-liunting, and I 
in company plant-hunting, but, to my great mortification, in 
the evening I lost the party. After travelling for several 
hours backwards and forwards, without any likelihood of 
finding out our camp, I climbed up a tree, for the purpose 
of staying there all night, hut after being there for some 
time I saw a very large light approaching, and two or three 
negroes, who appeared to me as so many devils, hut, to my 
great comfort, it turned out to he negroes sent out in order 
to find me. The cold, hunger, and fatigue I underwent that 
night made me quite ill, and, to add to that, it rained all 
night, without having any shelter ; next morning the medi¬ 
cine prescribed for me was a glass of gin and pepper, and, 
indeed, had they given me arsenic I should have been 
thankful, I felt myself so ill; but luckily next day I got so 
well as to shoot a deer and some birds, and to collect ; 
j some plants and seeds, and still continued getting w T ell, 
I notwithstanding I had not pulled off my coat for ten days. 
| On my return to Mr. Mclver’s I found him at home, when 
i he requested me to go a second expedition with him to the \ 
different Sea Islands, and to Turtle River, in his own boat, 
which offer I accepted, and on our setting off, to our great 
surprise, met Porter, near Sunburry, in a canoe, pleasuring, 
with some gentlemen who had come from Savannah ; told 
me Brooks was to remain at Savannah until I returned, and 
then go to the Indian country with me, which made my 
mind easy in regard to the seeds and plants I had left. 
After exploring Saplo, Blackbeard, and Frederico Islands, 
came to Turtle River, and sent what I had collected there 
in a boat to Savannah. Having left the boat there, Mr. 
Mclver and I set off to Sunburry across the main land, 
sometimes on foot and other times on horseback. The second 
day, Mr. Mclver not being very well, I left him at a house 
in the woods, and travelled along myself to Sunburry, as I 
was anxious to reach Savannah, in order to send my collec¬ 
tion to Charleston. On my arrival I found, to my great 
surprise, my friend Brooks with the seeds gone without 
settling with me for his expenses. I overlooked this fault 
of Porter’s, and left him in charge of my horse and chaise, 
to bring after me, and went immediately on board a schooner 
for Charleston, in order to overtake Brooks. On my arrival 
here, I made strict enquiry after Brooks, and was informed 
of his being on board a ship then getting under weigh for 
London, on board of which I repaired, and had just time to 
ask him what he had done with the seeds, and his reason 
for behaving so. He told me he could not think of staying 
with such a disagreeable young man as Porter. My par¬ 
ticular reason for accompanying Brooks was his under¬ 
standing stuffing birds and collecting insects 
1 beg you will tell Dr. Letsom that I have got a large 
hornet’s nest, that hangs on the trees, and one ditto for my 
friend Forsyth. Any omission that I make in writing I hope 
will be forgiven, as I hope I shall he able to convince them 
of my perseverance on my return home. My duty to Sir 
Joseph Banks, and he shall be sure to have some plants of j 
the gentian, both dead and alive. In one of the boxes there | 
is a new Laurus which you will receive by this ship. You 
will not know it from the Laurus sasafras, but you will 
know it by being No. 18. Monsieur Michaux tells me 
Linnaeus gives no account of it. I sir all think myself very 
unfortunate if I have not sent home two or three new sorts, 
and I still hope to add many more. By the time I return 
from the Indian country, I expect the goods will be here 
that I have written for, and also to hear from you, and, at 
the same time, whether it is your wish that I should perform 
the journey I mentioned in my last letter. If so, you must 
give directions how I must draw on some of you, as the 
paper medium of this state goes nowhere else. My friend 
Monsieur Michaux and I have altered our plans, and are 
now going to the Indian country; for had we gone to the 
Bahamas, the spring would have been spent before we could 
have returned. The Frenchman seems very courageous, 
and means to go as far as the Mississipi; and I have every 
reason to believe I shall not be the one that will give out 
first, for I have already seen one instance of the French¬ 
man’s courage, which was in the following manner:—Having, 
amongst my collection I sent home in the John, several 
plants which he had not before seen, which he was desirous 
of seeing, the ship being then at anchor close by the bar, 
five miles from the harbour, we took a boat and went on 
board, and by that time it was dark, when it began to blow 
excessively hard, and lightened much, which terrified the 
poor Frenchman so much, that it was with the greatest diffi¬ 
culty he could be persuaded to get into the boat in order to 
go ashore again, notwithstanding he was almost like to go 
to sea for England next morning, as the ship was then ! 
a-going. In box of plants No. 3, you will find a Supple I 
Jack (Paullinia polyphylla) ; I thought it might be worth a I 
place in your museum; in the manner you see it grow, it I 
reaches the tops of the highest trees in this country, and 
then crosses other trees to the distance of 300 feet, without 
observing very little difference from the top to the bottom. 
I have sent home several young plants of it. I hope, on 
my return, to add much to your museum; please observe 
the same to Dr. Letsom. 
GOSSIP. 
At a recent meeting of the Entomological Society, it 
was stated by Mr. Hunter that the Blaclc-beetles (Blatta 
orientalis), so annoying in some kitchens, are readily 
destroyed by giving them powdered plaister of Paris 
(gypsum) mixed with oatmeal. 
As an answer to several correspondents, who mention 
with surprise the prices asked for fancy live stock, we 
will append a priced list of specimens exhibited a few 
weeks since by Messrs. Jessop, of the Aviaries, Chel¬ 
tenham. Those who complain of the prices do not 
stop to calculate the original cost of importation, the 
uncertainty of rearing the progeny, and the length of 
time before a purchaser is found. 
Curasson, 10 gs.; two pair of yoldcn pheasants, 4 gs. per 
pair; two pair silver pheasants, 4 gs.; white fantail pigeons, 
7s. fid.; black fantail pigeons, 2 gs.; white carriers, 1 g.; 
three Dorking chickens, 1 g.; three white Malay chickens, 3 gs.; 
pair China silver fowl, 3 gs.; pair golden game, 3 gs.; black 
Spanish, £2 Ids.; Summer drake, or Carolina, 3 gs.; couple 
Summer ducks, 5 gs. ; three bearded China fowls, 10 gs.; couple 
