KECOLLECTIONS, 1831-37. 17 



When I say I did not sleep much, to tell the truth I 

 don't think I slept at all, for I Ifeink I was still hum- 

 ming " Nominative rosa" when I opened my eyes and 

 saw the light, or, rather, the dawn of day, as the dawn 

 of my motions, dusky ! It was a Sunday morning in 

 June, and I intended to go herborizing ; so I got up, 

 took up my herborizing box and started across mead- 

 ows, woods, swamps, etc. I had walked a considerable 

 distance, when I found myself on an eminence, wet 

 above the knees by the dew, and not feeling too com- 

 fortable, when I turned round and I saw the rays of 

 the sun emerging out of the horizon. I was dazzled 

 by the sublime magnificence of that Light God ! ! that 

 supreme unknown ! ! For awhile I forgot my gram- 

 mar, the cryptogamous and phanerogamous plants. 

 The whole nature, the creation, which I was contem- 

 plating with so much admiration that all my moral, in- 

 tellectual faculties were I could not analyze them, 



was so bewildered it took some time before I could 

 realize where I was, my blood still in ebullition and my 

 legs cold, but it did not last long. That God- Light 

 soon warmed me again, and when I got over my ecstacy 

 I began to realize I had often seen a rising of the sun, 

 but never in such a circumstance. So I immediately 

 resumed my search for a certain plant, of which I 

 scented the smell before I saw it. I was trampling it 

 under my feet ; it was an orchidese, "Satyritim hir- 



