INTRODUCTION. Ixv 



interesting. Nor was this all ; with a true spirit of philan- 

 thropy Mr. Smith assembled the scattered peasantry of 

 these high and secluded valleys, explained to them the 

 characters and the valuable properties of the lichens which 

 covered their mountains, instructed them how to convert 

 these mosses into bread that was pleasenl to the taste, 

 nourishing, and wholesome, and prevailed on them to 

 adopt this bread instead of that miserable resource of bark 

 bread, which aftbrds but little or no nourishment, and that 

 little at the expense of health. 



The death of his father about this time put him in pos- 

 session of a little fortune, which he at once resolved to 

 employ in studying nature in foreign countries. His 

 nomination to the professorship of botany at the university 

 of Christiania did not divert him from his plan ; on the con- 

 trary, he thought he could not do a greater service to the 

 cause of science than to consecrate the fruits of his travels 

 to the new botanical garden of that place. He came to 

 London, met with a countryman who had been instructed 

 in the King's Gardens at Kew, and sent him to superin- 

 tend his favourite garden at Christiania, with abundance 

 of plants and seeds which he purchased at his own ex- 

 pense. He next proceeded to Edinburgh, from whence 

 he set out on a tour across the highest mountains of 

 Scotland to examine their productions. The mountains 

 of the northern counties of England and of Wales did not 

 escape his active researches. Erom Wales he crossed over 

 to Dublin, scoured all the mountains of Ireland, and re- 

 turned to London towards the end of the 3'ear ]814. It 

 is needless to add, that so zealous an advocate for the ex- 

 tension of human knowledge engaged at once the friendship 



k 



