Singular indeed it was that I should receive this, just in the nick of time, for had it not been for a kind unfavourable wind, which obliged my vessel to go considerably out of her way, I should have missed her, and of course lost the pleasure of a sight of the Flora. I can not really express how much I am obliged to you for writing to me. If it were not for your letters, and the information they convey, I should be utterly without news, for nobody else has sent me any.
I left in California my friend Dr. Coulter, who will not, I trust, quit that country till he has accomplished every thing, for he is zealous and very talented. To De Candolle, who is his old tutor, he sends all his collections; and who can wonder at his giving him the preference? Dr. Coulter expects to be in England in the autumn of 1833; I have given him a letter of introduction to you.
This day brings me another proof of your goodness, for Dr. McLoughlin, Director of the Hudson's Bay Company, as soon as he learned of my arrival, kindly sent down the river to me several packages, among which was your friendly letter of July, 1831. Every thing you say gives me infinite pleasure, and adds to my comfort. I know not how to express my gratitude more earnestly than I did in the letter I wrote to you last night, to perform which I sat up till three o'clock this morning. I shall, without fail, replace your lost specimens of Pines; they were all plunged in warm water that their leaves might not fall off, a mode I always adopt with Cape Heaths but I fear they may have been heated or jumbled about in the vessel. I am glad you have set Mr. Drummond on his legs again, and hope he will do well.[1] I shall write to the Rev. Narcisse Duran, the Prefect of the Order in Californa, an amiable and learned man, who will receive him kindly, and do him the most signal service. I shall write likewise to Mr. Hartnel, an English gentleman, in whose house I lived at Montérey, who will also aid him. I may have an opportunity of addressing some of the Principals of the American Pur Company, to several of whom I am personally known; they are generally intelligent and kind-hearted men, much disposed to be useful. This I can easily do; for I am regarded by them as half an American, having spent so many years in the New World.
Mr. Garry is exceedingly kind to me; I have also received a long letter from Capt. Sabine, dated Charlemont Fort, Ireland, full of kindness. Nothing can be more gratifying to me than to be remembered
- ↑ This alludes to the Botanical Journeys of Mr. Drummond in Louisiana and Texas, of which an account has already been given in the first volume of this Journal. It was at one time thought he might reach the Pacific from the Mississippi, by way of California. But it was otherwise ordained.
