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something new to your collections, - in zoology and
botany. -

There will be no objection made to
your procuring at our ports specimens of the various fur
bearing animals found in the country, for the Smithsonian
Museum, which will be charged at the usual prices to our own officers. As
the cost of such a collection will be considerable and the
transport an item of some moment, I cannot extend this
permission beyond one complete set for the Smithsonian.
I mention this, as I believe you were commissioned
to make collections for some private parties, as well as
the Institution. -

We shall not be at all uneasy
about the injury to our trade, likely to arise from your
attempts at trapping. But, I have learned, you have
sent out for a supply of strychnine, to be employed
in procuring the use of poison in the interior, by our own
people or the Indians; and I trust you will respect
our regulations, by abstaining from employing it, if
a supply has now been provided to you. I wrote to
Professor Henry on the subject and I learn that instructions
were immediately sent to you, to make no use of
strychnine while at the Company's establishments. -