CHAP. XVIII. 



MOSSES. 295 



Strange to say, he missed an object that he had 

 long been looking for. It was the Juncus sguarrosus, 

 which is usually found growing on boggy earth. He 

 searched for it along the banks of the river, but though 

 there, it had been cropped down by the beasts which 

 grazed along the grassy plat. At length he found the 

 plant growing to perfection not a hundred yards from 

 his own door, on a piece of land called " The Island " 

 a place devoted to the bleaching of clothes, and con- 

 sequently sacred from the intrusion of cattle. 



During the later years of his life, Dick again returned 

 to the study of botany. He searched all the country 

 round, for grasses, ferns, and mosses. What an insigni- 

 ficant thing a Moss seems ! Yet, when a friend was 

 complaining to Linnaeus, that Sweden did not afford 

 scope enough for the study of Nature, the sage laid his 

 hand upon a bit of Moss on which they were reclining, 

 and said, " Under this palm is material for the study of 

 a lifetime !" 



Every one remembers how Mungo Park, when lost in 

 the desert, was delighted with the sight of a tuft of Moss. 

 The little living jewel, growing amongst endless wastes 

 and arid rocks, melted the traveller's heart. " If God 

 cares for the moss," he said, " surely He cares for me ; " 

 and Park went on his way with an uplifted heart. 



Dick searched the whole county of Caithness for the 

 mosses which it contained. He was the first local 

 botanist who had investigated the subject. Writing to 

 Peach in April 1856, he said : " The club-mosses are 

 very interesting plants. I have found five out of the 



