CHAP. vii. THE HOLY GRASS. 73 



Another called upon him with a strange flower. " I 

 have got a new thing for you to-day, Mr. Dick !" " Oh 

 no," said Dick, " I know it quite well. You got it near 

 Shebster " indicating a small hillock on a moor in the 

 western part of the parish of Thurso. " Yes," said the 

 inquirer; "but how do you know that?" "Simply 

 because it grows nowhere else in Caithness." 



Thus, in course of time, he had pretty nearly mastered 

 the botany of Caithness. Among his other discoveries 

 of plants in Caithness, which had before been altogether 

 unknown, was his discovery of the Hierochloe lorealis, 

 or Northern Holy Grass, on the banks of the river 

 Thurso. It is called Holy Grass, because the people in 

 Sweden and Norway were in the habit of strewing their 

 churches with it. It emits a scent when lying in quan- 

 tities, and when trampled on by the feet of the wor- 

 shippers. It is detected, when growing, by its beautiful 

 spiral stem and its rich golden seed. 



The plant had been first admitted into the British 

 Flora on the authority of Don. But no one else had 

 found it. After the death of Don the plant was placed 

 in the doubtful list of the London Catalogue, and it 

 . was finally dropped out altogether. Dick was surprised 

 at the discovery, but he took no means to make it known. 

 He kept the plant for about twenty long years beside 

 him. He was too solitary and too bashful to rush into 

 print with his botanical findings. It was only when a 

 young botanist, who had heard of Mr. Dick's scientific 

 knowledge, called upon him, saw the plant and ascer- 

 tained its habitat, that the information about the new 



