HIS LONELY JOURNEY. 55 



remember what were the special prizes of the excursion, 

 though I well remember that we came home richly 

 loaded with things, to me rich and rare, which, with his 

 usual kindness, he named and labelled for me next day. 

 After a lapse of more than sixteen years, I lighted 

 accidentally one day on a pile of plants, collected princi- 

 pally in Caithness, and forming my first herbarium. It 

 had passed through the hands of Mr. Dick, and bears his 

 sign-manual on every sheet. Any one would say it is 

 the handwriting of an educated man a bold, full, 

 fluent hand without any trace of the crampedness and 

 angularity of those who earn their bread by manual toil. 

 Besides, the technical names of the plants are always 

 spelt correctly." 



But it was very seldom that he made his botanical 

 excursions with others. He almost invariably went 

 alone. When he had arranged his work, and had a 

 journey in view, he had everything in order by the hour 

 that he intended to set out ; and then nothing would 

 detain him. When about to start on a long journey, he 

 wore thick-soled boots, with hob-nails in them. He 

 soaked his stockings with water ; and when he came to 

 a burn he soaked them again. He took with him some 

 ship biscuit, which was easily carried. This constituted 

 his principal refreshment during his long journeys. The 

 burn or the mountain tarn supplied beverage enough for 

 one of the most temperate and enduring of men. " I 

 never drink much when travelling," he used to say. "It 

 takes the wind out of me, and seriously interferes with 

 my comfort and endurance/'' 



