Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/351

 JOURNAL AND LETTERS OF DAVID DOUGLAS. 341 that I wished to obtain. Having taken a walk up the river in the afternoon, I found, upon my return at night, that Mr. Finlay had obligingly put my gun into good order, for which I presented him with a pound of tobacco, being the only article I had to give. . Two days were devoted to botanizing in this neighbor- hood, where I found three fine species of Ribes in flower: the R. aureum, which bears, as Mr. Finlay informs me, a very large and excellent yellow berry (he never saw it black or brown, though I afterward found this variety); a white-blossomed, apparently new species, whose snowy and fragrant long spikes of flowers are enough to recom- mend it for culture in England, even without considering its abundant produce of well-flavoured and black currants, which resemble those of our country, except in being rather more acid ; and another kind, with a green flower, that is succeeded by a small black gooseberry. Of all these, and many other plants, I engaged Mr. Finlay to collect specimens and seeds for me ; as well as of an in- teresting kind of Allium, which grows about forty miles distant, and of which the roots, that I saw, were as large as a nut, and particularly mild and well-tasted. These species of the Ribes I afterwards found to be R. viscosissimum (Hook. Fl. Bor. Am., v. 1, t. 80), R. petio- lare, and R. tenuijtoruin, (Hot. Keg. t. 1274). I also saw a new I'inus (/'. pondcrosa), and two kinds of Misseltoe, one large and growing on this 1'ine ; and the other a smaller plant (Arceubothrium Oxyccdri, Hook. Fl. Bor. Am., v. 1, t. 99), parasitical on Pinus Banksiana, which is not rare here, though of smaller stature than it attains on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. A large bear, Ursus horribilis, was killed by Mr. Finlay, but it was too large to be preserved. Among the seeds I pro- cured were those of Pentstcmon Scouleri (Bot. Reg. t. 1277), Claytonia lanccolata, Erythronium grandiflorum (Bot. Reg.