74 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



somehow got entangled in the crowd just as it was charged 

 by the soldiers. One of them struck him with the butt 

 end of his gun, saying with a fierce oath as he felled him 

 to the ground, " That's deen for you, at ony rate ! " It was 

 a serious moment, which might have proved fatal and 

 rendered this history unnecessary ; for, apart altogether 

 from the blow, he might have been trampled to death. 

 John never related the . story without great seriousness 

 and thankfulness at his escape. " Man," said he, " whan 

 I was fell't to the grund, I thocht I was nae mair. But 

 on my hands and knees, like a cat, I managed to creep 

 oot o' the mob." Happily his head was greatly saved 

 by his thick militia cap, but even with it, he received a 

 deep and painful wound which took long to heal. In 

 this riot, several persons suffered severely and many were 

 lodged in jail. John used to conclude his narrative with 

 the natural remark, " I hae aye keepit oot o' mobs since 

 syne." By this fierce blow, which might have been more 

 disastrous, the occiput bones of his head were damaged, 

 and he bore the deep mark to his dying day. 



The district in which Duncan passed the remainder 

 of his days, the extended period of fifty-seven years, was 

 that part of middle Aberdeenshire that surrounds and is 

 finely dominated by the far-seen and famous hill of 

 Benachie. Though under seventeen hundred feet in height, 

 it has the style of one of our greater mountains, from 

 its isolation, contour, and volcanic-looking crest, which 

 give it the picturesque name it bears, signifying in Gaelic, 

 the Ben of the Pap, a not uncommon designation of 

 mountains in the Highlands. It exhibits on every side 

 a striking aspect, and from some points looks a splendid 



