386 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



"Ay, ay ! " said he briskly ; " I do the hale thing mysel' 

 frae beginnin' to end. I get the spun threed frae the 

 women that employ me, that's a' ; and frae that I manage 

 a' the lave wi' my ain hands, till it's made into claith and 

 ta'en hame ready for use. Ye see, sir," he went on, 

 " when I becam' a weyver, I made up my mind to be ane, 

 and to maister the hale affair and I did it ; and tho' I 

 say't mysel', fyow cu'd beat me." There the old man 

 revealed the stuff that had carried him through his hard 

 life and harder studies. 



As we were pushed for time, we expressed a wish to 

 see his collection of plants. John rose with alacrity, and 

 went to the other end of the room, near the open door, 

 which shed there a much needed gleam ; for the small dim 

 panes, overshadowed with trees, admitted only a diminished 

 light, except where the sun shone directly on the loom. 

 When he stood up, he appeared exceedingly round- 

 shouldered and bent, the effects of years and the stooping- 

 required by his work and studies. He was clad in moleskin 

 trousers and vest with sleeves, without a coat, and with a 

 coloured napkin loosely tied round his neck. He wore the 

 usual small white apron of the weaver. 



At the end of the room near the door, stood his boxes 

 and chests and parts of old looms, and on the top of these 

 lay a mass of papers and some books. These papers 

 contained dried plants. They were sadly covered with 

 dust and "stoor," and had evidently not been moved for 

 some time. The plants were contained in rough, home-made 



height, moving vertically on a central pole, round which the long yarn 

 is wound to form the warp or long threads of the web before it is put 

 into the loom. 



