228 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



the hour was, in an open cart-shed till their sleeping-room 

 was prepared. This was a long hay-loft, the men being 

 accommodated at one end, and the women at the other. 

 The women had thus to pass through the men's division 

 in order to reach their own, and the consequence was, that 

 " there were some gae rum (rough) nichts " spent under 

 these conditions. 



John, of course, shared with the rest in all the labour 



and accommodation t>f the party during their month's 



stay at Dunbog, till harvest was finished. He had come 



supplied, as usual, with home-made books, formed of 



newspapers and grocers' tea-paper, to press and preserve 



the plants in. These he kept carefully protected in the 



big bundle containing his clothes. All his spare time was 



spent in exploring the neighbourhood for plants. In this 



work, he had many willing or curious assistants in his 



companions and in the farmer himself, who brought him 



all the plants they could lay their hands on. He counted 



petals and stamens and told their names, preserving all the 



rarer specimens for his herbarium. It was a picturesque 



and interesting sight to see these groups of amateur 



botanists gathered round the little man after the labours 



of the day, and engaged in such innocent, intellectual 



pursuits ; while many a merry laugh was raised at the 



grand, jaw -breaking names the common weeds that grew 



in the ditches and hedges were dignified with, in their eyes. 



The first Sunday, John and his friend walked to Cupar 



to church, a journey of between thirty and forty miles in 



all. The Sunday following, they went to Newburgh, fifteen 



miles. On the next, they purposed going to Perth, but 



were prevented by heavy rain. In these long Sabbath 



