54 HIS WALKING POWERS. CHAP. vi. 



found a curious sort of nut, which he told me had been 

 carried by the ocean currents and prevailing winds all 

 the way from the West Indies, and was cast up 011 the 

 beach just below Thurso Castle." 



" On another occasion," says the same writer, " I 

 walked with him on a botanical excursion, as far as I 



OLD THURSO CASTLE : FROM THE SHORE. 



could, up the Thurso river; and I am not far from the 

 truth when I say that he talked all the way. ' I begin 

 slowly,' he said, referring to his walking, 'but we'll 

 improve before long,' and so it proved; for before he 

 had reached Oldfield he had got into a four-miles-an- 

 hour pace, and by the time we reached Isauld it was a 

 regular trot and race down the banks and across the 

 river to one of his favourite haunts. I cannot now 



