trade; they say the people of it wear long beards, and are very wicked, having hanged several of the natives to the rigging. Considerable dependence may be placed on these statements, as Mr. McLeod showed me some Russian coins, combe, and articles of hardware, such as are very different from what can be obtained from the British Trading Company. But the most convincing proof, and which proves the difficulty of transportation or navigation, is their malleable iron pots of coarse workmanship, and containing four and six gallons each. The whole account seems plausible. Mr. McLeod assembled all the natives last year with the purpose of accompanying him thither, when he was obliged to depart for Hudson Bay. The sea is said to be open after July. In this gentleman there is an example of what may be done by perseverance, as in the short space of eleven months he visited the Polar Sea, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Perhaps not an individual alive has gone through such a succession of miseries and hardships. My intention is to endeavor crossing the Continent of America in the spring of next year (1827), failing which, to take the earliest opportunity of reaching England by sea. My store of clothes is very low, nearly reduced to what I have on my back, one pair of shoes, no stockings, two shirts, two handkerchiefs, my blanket and cloak: thus I adapt my costume to that of the country, as I could not carry more, without reducing myself to an inadequate supply of paper and such articles of natural history.
P. S. At the Junction of the Spokan Hirer irith the Columbia, Lat. 47 1-2° N., Long. 119° West, April 13th.—Since writing the above, I have found Phlox speciosa of Pursh, a delightful plant, of which the description will require some alteration; and also a new species, equal to it in beauty and near P. setacea, with abundance of Purshia tridentata with yellow flowers. I can hardly sit down to write, not knowing what to gather first.
The next morning, the 25th, this disagreeable business being settled, we started at daylight, and continuing our upward course during the three next days, reached the Walla-wallah Establishment on the 2Sth, where I was received with much kindness by Mr. S. Black, the person in charge. The whole country between this place and the Great Falls is nearly destitute of timber, the largest shrub being Tigarea (Purshia of the Flora Boreali Americana) tridentata, which we use for fuel in boiling our little kettle. I also noticed several large species of Artemisia (A. arborea among them), that were new to me, and, indeed, the
