1 88 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



umbellatus), called also the Water gladiole, then in flower. 

 It is a most beautiful plant, with large, delicate, pink and 

 rosy blossoms, which rise out of the water and adorn it 

 after the water-lily has gone. It derives its technical name * 

 from its sharp triangular leaves, which guard it from the 

 rude intrusion of both animals and men. 



John climbed to the top of Arthur's Seat, like the good 

 mountaineer he was, and got there a kind of " fog" or moss 

 new to him, which he afterwards found on the hills above 

 the Vale of Alford. He walked round the Radical Road 

 that skirts the base of Salisbury Crags, where he looked 

 down on the undulating, smoky city, in admiration of " the 

 gran' view." He went, like all visitors, to see the Castle, 

 enthroned on its picturesque crags. There the number of 

 soldiers on guard at every corner, and the prohibition to 

 touch nothing, specially struck him, showing that his short- 

 sightedness had received some check. He was much in- 

 terested in " the great iron murderer " known as " Muckle 

 Meg" or " Mons Meg ;" because a similar some say the 

 same large cannon, one of " seven sisters," used to guard 

 Dunnottar Castle. This sent his heart back to the braes 

 and cliffs of his youth and their splendid scenery. For 

 the time, these became more vivid than the great city 

 that lay under the battlements of the castle on which he 

 stood. He visited Leith, where he was interested in the 

 ship-building and the carpenters, and these also recalled 

 early years. 



Then each day closed with long and pleasant talks 

 in the one large room which formed the happy home of 

 his friends, when the gathered plants were spread out, de- 

 * From bouS) an ox, and temno, I cut. 



