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more in Maryland, with a determination not to return to Europe until I should have examined that country to the utmost extent of my means and abilities. In 1811, after an absence of nearly twelve years, I returned to Europe, with an ample stock of materials towards a FLORA OF NORTH AMERICA, an attempt at which I now venture to lay before the public, with the flattering hope, that a generous allowance will be made for its unavoidable imperfections, when the extent of the undertaking is considered; and that it will be accepted as it really is intended, as only the groundwork of some future more perfect work upon the subject.

As it may be interesting to some readers to have a sketch of the particulars of my stay in America, and to be informed of the means by which I became possessed of so general a collection of its plants, I shall give a few outlines thereof, previous to the necessary remarks respecting the execution of the work itself.

My first object, after my arrival in America, was to form an acquaintance with all those interested in the study of Botany. Among these I had the pleasure to account one of the earliest, and ever after the most valuable, the Rev. Dr. Mühlenberg of Lancaster, in Pensylvania, a gentleman whose industry and zeal for the science can only be surpassed by the accuracy and acuteness of his observations; I only regret, that his extensive and interesting materials towards a Flora of the United States, in which he has been engaged for a number of years, should not before this have been communicated to the public.

I next visited the old established gardens of Mr. Marshall, author of a small "Treatise on the Forest-trees

of North America." This gentleman, though then far advanced in age and deprived of his eye-sight, conducted me personally through his collection of interesting trees and shrubs, pointing out many which were then new to me, which strongly proved his attachment and application to the science in former years, when his vigour of mind and eye-sight were in full power. This establishment, since the death of Mr. Marshall, (which happened a few years ago,) has been, in some respects, kept up by the family, but is now very much on the decline, only a few old established trees being left as a memento of what formerly deserved the name of a respectable botanic garden.

Near Philadelphia I found the botanic garden of Messrs. John and William Bartram. This is likewise an old establishment, founded under the patronage of the late Dr. Fothergill, by the father of the now living Bartrams. This place, delightfully situated on the banks of the Delaware, is kept up by the present proprietors, and probably will increase under the care of the son of John Bartram, a young gentleman of classical education, and highly attached to the study of botany. In Mr. William Bartram, the well known author of "Travels through North and South Carolina," I found a very intelligent, agreeable, and communicative gentleman; and from him I received considerable information about the plants of that country, particularly respecting the habitats of a number of rare and interesting trees. It is with the liveliest emotions of pleasure I call to mind the happy hours I spent in this worthy man's company, during the period I lived in his neighbourhood.

Not far from the latter place are also the extensive gardens of William Hamilton, Esq., called the Woodlands, which I found not only rich in plants from all parts of the world, but particularly so in rare and new American species. Philadelphia being a central situation, and extremely well calculated for the cultivation of plants from all the other parts of North America, I found this collection particularly valuable for furnishing me with a general knowledge of the plants of that country, preparatory to more extensive travels into the interior, for the discovery of new and unknown subjects. Mr. John Lyon, (of whom I shall have an opportunity to speak hereafter,) who had the management of these gardens, was then about to give them up having the offer of being appointed his successor, I embraced it, and accordingly in 1802 I entered upon the situation. During my stay in this place, which was until 1805, I received and collected plants from all parts of North America; and when Michaux's "Flora Boreali-Americana" appeared, which was during that time, I was not only in possession of most of his plants, but had then a considerable number not described by him.

Within this period I had also formed a connection with Dr. Benjamin S. Barton, Professor of Botany in the University of Pensylvania, &c. whose industrious researches in all the different branches of natural history are so well known to the literary world. He likewise, for some time previous, had been collecting materials for an American Flora. As I was now very anxious to explore the more remote parts of the country, particularly the interesting ranges of the Allegany Mountains, I was enabled, by the kind assistance of this gentleman, to

take a more extensive range for my botanical excursions, which during my stay at the Woodlands had been confined within a comparatively small compass, the necessary attention to the duties of that establishment not permitting me to devote more time to them.

Accordingly, in the beginning of 1805, I set out for the mountains and western territories of the Southern States, beginning at Maryland and extending to the Carolinas, (in which tract the interesting high mountains of Virginia and Carolina took my particular attention,) and returning late in the autumn through the lower countries along the sea-coast to Philadelphia. The following season, 1806, I went in like manner over the Northern States, beginning with the mountains of Pensylvania and extending to those of New Hampshire, (in which tract I traversed the extensive and highly interesting country of the Lesser and Great Lakes,) and returning as before by the sea-coast.

Both these tours I principally made on foot, the most appropriate way for attentive observation, particularly in mountainous countries; travelling over an extent of more than three thousand miles each season, with no other companions than my dog and gun, frequently taking up my lodging in the midst of wild mountains and impenetrable forests, far remote from the habitations of men. The collections and observations made in the course of these journeys, all of which I communicated to Dr. Barton, were considerable, in respect to the discovery of many new and interesting subjects of natural history in general. But the knowledge which I thereby acquired of the geography, soil, and situation of the plants of that country, (points of the greatest interest

to the practical botanist) was of the greatest importance to me.

Soon after my return from the last-mentioned jourhey, I had the pleasure to form an acquaintance with Meriwether Lewis, Esq., then Governor of Upper Louisiana, who had lately returned from an expedition across the Continent of America to the Pacific Ocean, by the way of the Missouri and the great Columbia rivers, executed under the direction of the Government of the United States. A small but highly interesting collection of dried plants was put into my hands by this gentleman, in order to describe and figure those I thought new, for the purpose of inserting them in the account of his Travels, which he was then engaged in preparing for the press. This valuable work, by the unfortunate and untimely end of its author, has been interrupted in its publication; and although General Daniel Clark, the companion of Mr. Lewis, (to whom I transmitted all the drawings prepared for the work,) undertook the editorship after his death, it has not, to my knowledge, yet appeared before the public, notwithstanding the great forwardness the journals and materials were in when I had the opportunity of perusing them.

The collection of plants just spoken of was made during the rapid return of the expedition from the Pacific Ocean towards the United States. A much more extensive one, made on their slow ascent towards the Rocky mountains and the chains of the Northern Andes, had unfortunately been lost, by being deposited among other things at the foot of those mountains. The loss of this first collection is the more to be regretted,