3Q2 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



return he cu'd mak' was by-and-by to mar'y 'er ; " his 

 journey to Lapland ; and his afterwards rising to dignity 

 and renown. 



" Do you not feel lonely," I asked, " thus living by your- 

 self, your family gone, and Charles so far away ? " 



" Na," said he, " only noos and nans.* Ye see, I hae 

 my newspaper, for I aye get that, and my books ; and 

 there's aye the bonnie floo'rs to look at. Oo na ! I'm no 

 lanely ! " 



" Do you ever get tired, working so hard, now that you 

 are getting so old ? " 



" Some," said he. " But then I just rise and gang aboot 

 a bit, and oot to the gairden to see the floo'rs for a wee. 

 And a body, ye ken, maun just begin again ! " continued 

 he, with cheerful practical philosophy ; " but I aye likit 

 to wirk." 



We continued our talk on many topics mentioned by 

 me and suggested by incidents and associations as they 

 occurred. He discoursed pleasantly and fluently of God's 

 use of poisonous plants for the cure of diseases ; of the 

 most useful of plants, the potato, belonging to the 

 dangerous order of the Deadly Nightshade ; of his own 

 medical practice by use of herbs, and of the successes he 

 had had with them in his own and others' experience ; of the 

 Loch of Drum, and his dangerous adventure there ; of his 

 searching for the Bladderwort in Tillyfourie Moss; of his 

 methods of learning and remembering the difficult technical 

 words in Botany ; and similar bits of science and re- 

 miniscence, described in capital Scotch, and seasoned and 

 illustrated with apt saw or sentiment from his rich "pro- 

 * " Nows and thens," the English "now and then." 



