12 MEMOIR OF PENNANT. 



and it " was fated," Pennant says, " to be accom- 

 plished by an inferior genius." We shall notice 

 this work again in its order of publication. 



Upon his return to England, a third volume was 

 added to British Zoology containing Fishes; and va- 

 rious additions and improvements were made on the 

 others. He let slip no opportunity of acquiring 

 additional knowledge upon the various subjects he 

 so ardently pursued ; his mind, he remarks, " was 

 always in a progressive state, it could never stagnate : 

 it carried me farther than the limits of our island, 

 and made me desirous of forming a zoology of some 

 distant country." This was the commencement of 

 his Indian Zoology, but which was given up very 

 soon after its commencement. Fifteen plates only 

 were engraved in small folio, and the expense was 

 partly defrayed by Sir Joseph Banks, to whom our 

 author had been some time previously introduced, 

 and who never failed to encourage, by his counsel 

 or purse, any work which tended to advance the 

 arts or sciences. The copperplates were given to 

 Reinhold Forster, who carried them abroad, and 

 published them with a German translation of the 

 letter-press. 



Pennant now meditated a longer excursion. Scot- 

 land was at this time unexplored by any naturalist, 

 and a journey to the northern parts was looked upon 

 as a comparatively dangerous undertaking. It was 

 accordingly selected as likely to afford a good field of 

 observation, and he commenced his first tour on 



