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The Eschscholtzia: Douglas

The life of David Douglas was largely chequered with misfortunes. In a journal he sent, with collections of seeds, insects, birds, &c., from Western America, he relates that he had pursued his explorations when his knee was disabled by an accident, and his sight was so dim that he could hardly use his gun. And he humorously tells of an old chief at Oak Point named Tha-a-muxci, who had a profound yearning for the luxury of being shaved, and was gratified by Mr. Douglas using his razor upon his face, in return for which kindness he accompanied the botanist "all along the coast and sixty miles up the Cheecheetin river." When he met with the giant fir that has been named in remembrance of him, he makes note in his journal that "new or strange things seldom fail to make great impressions, and we are often at first liable to overrate them;" and further on he remarks, "lest I should never see my friends to tell them verbally of these most beautiful and extremely large trees." The career of Douglas was as brief as it was brilliant. At the age of 36, being then engaged in botanical explorations in the Sandwich Islands, he fell into a pit that had been designed as a trap for buffaloes, and wherein one had been already caught. The infuriated beast killed the intruder, but not without a struggle, for the unhappy man fought hard for his life. This occurred July 12, 1834.