JULY 173 



he chose as his own emblem and united for ever with his 

 own motto, Tantus amor florum' So deep is my love 

 of flowers.' All these plants, it is true, save the larkspur, 

 and many more that might be named, were not the 

 patience of readers to be reckoned with, are still to be 

 found in Britain ; but they are children of solitude, and 

 sorrier are the strips into which, year after year, British 

 solitudes are gnawed by all-conquering industry and all- 

 devouring tillage. 



But I have not crossed the North Sea merely to prate 

 of botany, nor yet with the loftier aim of one of my 

 fellow-passengers in the steamer from Newcastle, who 

 had come all the way from Australia to study astronomy 

 in the land of the midnight sun. A certain wooden case, 

 narrow, indeed, but more than six feet long, having 

 caught his attention among my baggage, this gentleman 

 took an early opportunity of expressing his delight that 

 I had brought my telescope. ' Telescope,' quoth I ; ' I have 

 nothing but these,' showing him a pair of Zeiss lenses. 

 His countenance fell. 'Is not that a telescope in your 

 long box ? ' he asked. I must have dropped leagues in 

 his esteem when I had to confess it contained nothing 

 more creditable than fishing-rods ; for salmon-fishing was 

 the grossly material object which was luring me into the 

 Valley of Enchantment, and perhaps nowhere else can 

 it be had of a higher quality. 



Yet the best of it is confined to a very limited stretch 

 in this fine river. For some six miles above the sea the 

 Rauma sweeps in a series of majestic reaches having all 

 outward semblance of noble salmon casts, in volume some- 

 what equal to the Tay at the famed Linn o' Campsie. 

 But for some occult reason the fish will not rest in these 



