Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 3).djvu/18

14 mate success. His inquiries, in the Cumberland, for guides for the Missouri expedition, prove that he had by no means abandoned his purpose of undertaking that hazardous project.

But these long Western journeys had exhausted his resources; for seven years he had had no remittance from the French government, and was now under the necessity of returning to Europe to attend to his affairs. Accordingly in 1796 he embarked for France, and was shipwrecked on the coast of Holland, losing part of his collections; but his herbarium was preserved, and is now in the Musée de Paris. He ardently desired to be sent back to America; but his government offered him no encouragement, and finally he accepted a post upon an expedition to New Holland, and in November, 1802, died of fever upon the island of Madagascar.

His son, François André, entered into his father's pursuits and greatly assisted him. While yet a lad, he accompanied him on several arduous journeys in America; at other times remaining upon the plantation, engaged in the care of the transplanted trees. He returned to France some years before his father, in order to study medicine, and in the year of the latter's death was commissioned by the French minister of the interior to proceed to the United States to study forests and agriculture in general.

The journal of his travels was not originally intended for print; but the interest aroused in the Western region of the United States by the sale of Louisiana, induced its publication. The first French edition appeared in 1804, under the title, Voyage à l'ouest des Monts Alléghanys,dans les États de l'Ohio, et du Kentucky, et du Tennessée, et retour a Charleston par les Hautes-Carolines. Another