WALKS FOR FERNS. 



of my rambling days I did not leave Thurso until the 

 postman had gone round with his letters between one 

 and two o'clock. Of course I could not go far to-day. 

 But there is a fern growing about a mile and a half off, 

 which I should like to see once more. I once thought 

 the fern to be very rare, not having met with it in all 

 my rambles, except at the foot of the hill of Morven, in 

 the extreme south of the county. Then I found the 

 same fern about four or five miles from this, eastward of 

 the Fairies' Hill (Lysa) ; afterwards about a mile and 

 a half out of Thurso ; and then about three-quarters of 

 a mile eastward of the town. The search for plants is 

 amusing ; and when I come unexpectedly upon plants in 

 a spot which I had before minutely searched, I wonder 

 where my eyes had been all the time." 



" On Saturday last," he says in another letter to his 

 sister, " I got up in the morning at three, worked until mid- 

 day, and then I set off on a journey of nine miles to gather 

 a specimen of a plant. Before I started I took off my 

 shoes and dipped my feet, stockings and all, into a basin 

 of water. I then tied my shoes on and set off. When I 

 had gone six miles I came to a burn ' roarin' fou,' through 

 which I walked ankle-deep. Fifteen minutes later I 

 walked through another burn, and then through another 

 and another burn four burns in all. 



" I pulled the plant and returned homewards. My 

 route lay across Dunnet sands. The tide was ebbing. 

 I kept close by the waves. As they rolled in, in long 

 breakers, they went far up the sands. For about three- 

 quarters of an hour I walked ankle-deep in salt water. 



