314 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



intense confusion. The grasses were less easily managed 

 than the smaller plants, and he used a special appliance 

 for them, a thick round rod about a yard long, cut from the 

 wood with part of the branches still adhering, along which 

 he laid the stalks, wrapping them round with cloth and 

 tying the whole with string. When carried under his arm, 

 this had the appearance of a gun in its cloth case, and 

 caused him on more than one occasion to be seized as a 

 poacher. Near Fyvie, he was thus caught redhanded, as it 

 were, by a too eager gamekeeper, who, when he saw what 

 the offending weapon was, looked, John said, "as if his 

 nose were bleedin'." 



When he wished to be still more careful, he used a pair 

 of large double boards, bound at the back and tied 

 together with a string in front, like a portfolio, which 

 enclosed the requisite drying and pressing paper. This 

 was the veritable " Rattray's Botanical Chart " which 

 Charles Black had presented to him. He prized it 

 accordingly, and showed it to me, with affectionate pride, 

 as Charles's last gift to him when they parted many years 

 before. 



His travelling fare in the way of provisions remained 

 throughout as primitive as in his younger days oatmeal 

 for "crowdie," bread and cheese, or plain oatcake, washed 

 down with water from the mountain brook, seasoned with 

 nature's relish in the shape of water-cresses, a keen appetite 

 and simple tastes. He still occasionally spent the night in 

 the open air as circumstances required, even when above 

 seventy. One day, after doing this, he entered the train at 

 Banchory for Aberdeen, and met in the carriage Mr. Deans, 

 who had also been botanising in the district. They, of 



