[Received by the Editor, April 18, 1960.]

Archibald Menzies is well known to New Zealand botanists for his collections in Dusky Sound during Vancouver's voyage round the world in 1791–95. The return journey from the northern Pacific was made around Cape Horn, and J. D. Hooker, when discussing the botany of Tierra del Fuego, has stated:

• 1. “Many of the plants gathered during Cook's first voyage by Sir Joseph Banks and Solander and by Forster during his second, as also those which Mr. Menzies had detected, when accompanying Vancouver's expedition, and which have not been hitherto published were found again.” (Hooker, 1843, p. ix, referring to his own gatherings at St. Martin's Cove, Hermite Island.).

• 2. “With all these advantages the materials for a Fuegian flora would still be incomplete without the plants discovered by Menzies during Vancouver's expedition.” (Hooker, 1845, p. 222.)

These statements by Hooker are not, however, supported by Vancouver's narrative (1798), which shows that neither the Discovery nor the Chatham called anywhere between Valparaiso and St. Helena . Menzies' collections on Tierra del Fuego must have been made at some other time than that stated by Hooker, and there seems no doubt that this was on an earlier voyage which is described in Menzies' obituary, as follows: “In 1786 he embarked as surgeon on board the Prince of Wales, a vessel fitted out by the enterprising firm of John and Cadman Etches and Co., and was placed under the command of Lieut. (afterwards Captain) Colnett, of the Royal Navy, for a voyage of commercial discovery to the northwest coast of America. In this voyage he visited Staten Land where he remained for some time, the Sandwich Islands and China, as well as North-Western America, and returned from China by the direct route to England in the beginning of 1789.” (Lane and Leigh, 1842).

There are only three plants mentioned in the “Flora Antarctica” as collected by Menzies in the Tierra del Fuego region. These are Hamadryas magellanica, Lam., Viola tridentata, Sm., and Sticta endochrysa, Delise, and all are stated to be from Staten Land, which is an island just off the eastern tip of Tierra del Fuego . Further, the date on a Menzies specimen of Hamadryas magellanica in the British Museum is mentioned by Lourteig (1952) as being February, 1787.

There are several subsequent but brief references to this earlier voyage (Dict. Nat. Biogr. 1894; Menzies, 1921; Britten, 1924; Balfour, 1944; Cowan, 1954), but these add little information. However, Captain Colnett's journal is held at the Public Records Office, Chancery Lane, in London, and to supplement this there is a copy of the ship's log in the India Office Library. The journal (or copy?) finishes on November 7, 1788, while the last entry in the log is on January 23, 1789. The last part of the voyage, from China to England, is not covered.

The Prince of Wales (170 tons) left England on October 16, 1786, accompanied by a smack, the Princess Royal. Colnett wrote: “Captain Marshall's son, a lieutenant in the navy, was to accompany me part of the way (but not with his

father's consent) to be landed with 15 men, stores, etc, at New Year's harbour, Staten Land, to carry on a sea lion fishery”. New Year's Harbour is on the northern coast of Staten Island, roughly opposite the New Year Islands, and was discovered but not used by Cook on his second voyage. Colnett finally anchored here on January 26, 1787, and left on February 12.

Only one landing by Menzies on Staten Island is mentioned in Colnett's journal. “On Sunday the 28th, being a holiday, I went to the head of the harbour in the boat accompanied with Captain Duncan and the surgeon”. They landed and walked to the top of a hill.

It is important to note that there is no evidence for the statement by Sir. David Menzies (1921) that New Zealand and Australia were visited on this first voyage. After leaving Tierra del Fuego the Prince of Wales went north to Nootka, came south to Hawaii for the winter of 1787, returned to the Pacific coast in March, 1788, and returned to Hawaii once again in September. From here the route home lay across the North Pacific, where they were off the south end of Formosa on November 8, and arrived at Whampoa (the outer deep-water port of Canton) on November 25, 1788. Here they traded for some time before apparently returning, as the obituary states, by the direct route to England. Menzies left England again with Vancouver on April 1, 1791.

Literature Cited

Balfour, F. R. S., 1944. Archibald Menzies, 1754–1842, botanist, zoologist, medico and explorer. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond., 156th Session, 170–83.

Britten, J., 1924. Menzies Journal of Vancouver's Voyage, April to October, 1792. Journ. Bot., 62, 119–123.

Cowan, J. M., 1954. Some information on the Menzies and Jack Collections in the Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 21, 4.

Hooker, J. D. Flora Antarctica, Pt. 1, 1843–45; Pt. 2, 1845–47. London.

Lane, C., and Leigh, R., 1842. Archibald Menzies (obituary). Proc. Linn. Soc. I, 139–141.

Lourteig, A., 1952. Ranunculaceas de Sudamerica templada. Darwiniana, 9, 397–608.

Menzies, Sir David, 1921. Dr. Archibald Menzies, R.N., Gardeners Chronicle, 70, No. 1826.

Vancouver, Captain George, 1798. A voyage of discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and round the world. London.