PREFACE. 



THE short Tour of which the following is but a short account, 

 was undertaken without any professional or artistic intentions ; 

 neither to see fine scenery nor rare plants ; neither to geologize 

 nor to moralize. The primary object of the pedestrians was 

 fresh air and exercise, combined with relaxation from care and 

 labour. A secondary object was to seek 



" The hills of the North, 



The land of blue mountains, the birth-place of worth ; 

 Those mountains where Freedom has fixed her abode, 

 Those wide-spreading glens where no slave ever trod, 

 Where bloom the red Heather and Thistle so green." 



As part of the amiable fraternity who bear the vasculum and 

 handle the spud, we may confess to a rather ardent desire of 

 seeing, not merely the 



" Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, 

 Land of the mountain and the flood," 



but also of collecting and admiring 



" The bonnie flowers of Scotland, 

 AU others that excel." 



" The glowing Furze, the e bonny Broom,' 

 The Thistle and the Heather, 

 The Bluebell and the Gowan fair, 

 Which childhood loves to gather." 



