48 INTRODUCTION. 



much struck was he ^vith its exquisite beauty, that he felt 

 coustrained to say, " Can He who gave so much beauty to 

 that diminutive plant, and who thus cares for it in the 

 desert, be forgetful of me ? '' Cheered by the thought, he 

 started up, pushed on with renewed vigour, and soon reached 

 the habitations of men."^ 



AYe may remark, however, that if Mungo Park had not 

 been an acute observer, the beauty of this little plant would 

 have been unseen by him, even when it was close to his 

 eyes. The eye requires training. Many have eyes and yet 

 no eyes, because they have not been accustomed to make a 

 right use of them. This little plant, which had so cheering 

 an effect on the observant traveller, is not uncommon in 

 our own country ; and a bank covered with it in a state of 

 fructification is one of the most lovely spectacles on which 

 we can look. Though small, it is not so miuute but that 

 its beauty can be perfectly seen by the naked eye ; and yet 

 so little do we in general attend to those things that havcj 

 no great magnitude to recommend them, that were we to 



* Sir "William J. Hooker, in his ' British Flora,' says : " The moss which 

 engaged Mungo Park's attention so much in Africa as to revive his drooping 

 spirits when sinking under fatigue, was this species {Bicranum bryoides) ; 

 as I have ascertaiued by means of original specimens given to me by his 

 brother-in-law, Mr. Dickson." 



