CHAPTER XXXII. 



VISITS TO ABERDEEN FRIENDSHIP AND ECCENTRICITY. 



SINCE leaving Aberdeen, in 1824, John Duncan was accus- 

 tomed to visit it several times a year, to obtain yarn for 

 weaving, and attend Militia drill for some weeks at a time. 

 Before the Alford railway was opened in 1859, he walked 

 the whole distance to and from the city, except when con- 

 veyed by kindly acquaintances. In Aberdeen, there were 

 several good people who appreciated the man and relished 

 his visits. He frequently stayed overnight there, and, busi- 

 ness done, devoted the whole of his time to inspecting 

 second-hand bookstalls, purchasing books, and calling on 

 friends, but chiefly in extending his knowledge of the flora 

 of the surrounding country. 



At these visits, he was greatly astonished at the rapid 

 growth of the town and the numerous changes effected 

 on it since first he knew it in 1816, and he used to entertain 

 and surprise his friends with remarks on these changes, 

 and with descriptions of the city as it stood at the beginning 

 of the century ; for his reminiscences of such things were 

 interesting, vivid, and permanent. When he stayed in 

 town over Sunday, he devoted the day to hearing good 

 preachers, "the dons," * "the guid han's," as he called them, 



* Another bit of old scholastic Latin, being a contraction Qldominus, 



