Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/356

 346 JOURNAL AND LETTERS OF DAVID DOUGLAS. the bushes were equally frustrated by the annoyance of two species of ants, one very black and large, three quar- ters of an inch long, and the other small and red. Thus I gladly hailed the approach of day, and as soon as I could see to make a pen wrote the following letter to Mr. Sabine, which I consigned to Mr. Conolly who was immediately about to proceed to Fort Vancouver, whence a ship was daily expected to sail for England : June 9th, 1826. DEAR SIR : As an unexpected opportunity of communicating with the coast has just presented itself, I thus embrace it, sending also the whole of my gleanings, amounting to upwards of one hundred species, distinct from those transmitted in the collection of 1825. Among them are six species of Kibes, two of which, I think, will prove new 5 B. Viscosissimum of Pursh (whose description will require some alter- ation), which is surpassed by few plants; and a fourth, very inter- esting, though less showy species; the others are It. aureum, and one belonging to the section Grossularia, with green flowers. A few days after I had the honor of writing to you, on the 12th of April, from the Spokan River (where it joins the Columbia), a letter which was sent across this great Continent, I started for the Kettle Falls, ninety miles farther up, where I remained until the 5th of this month, making ex- cursions in such directions as seemed calculated to afford the richest harvest; and although this has fallen somewhat short of my expecta- tions, I yet do not consider my time as having been thrown away, many of the species being new, and the rest but imperfectly known. About the 25th of this month (June) I propose making a journey to a ridge of snowy mountains, about one hundred and fifty miles distant from this place, in a southerly direction, which will occupy fifteen to eighteen days; and, after securing the result of this trip, will make a voyage up Lewis and Clarke's River as far as the Forks, remaining there ten or twelve days, as appears necessary, and returning overland in a northeasterly [westerly?] direction to my spring encampment on the Kettle Falls. Shortly afterwards I mean to accompany Mr. Wark, who is going on a trading excursion to the country contiguous to the Rocky Mountains, and not far distant from the Pass of Lewis and Clarke, thence gradually retracing my steps over the places I have already visited, or yet may visit, so as to reach the ocean, as I hope, about November. The difficulty which I find in conveying the different objects that it is desirable to collect becomes considerable, and often I am under the necessity of restricting myself as to the number of specimens, that I may obtain the greater variety of kinds. I have been fortunate in procuring two pairs of a very handsome