194 MY LIFE 



a flower of earth." This and other references to and descrip- 

 tions of them gave them, in my mind, a weird and mysterious 

 charm, which was extended even to our native species, and 

 which, I believe, had its share in producing that longing for 

 the tropics which a few years later was satisfied in the equa- 

 torial forests of the Amazon. 



But I soon found that by merely identifying the plants I 

 found in my walks I lost much time in gathering the same 

 species several times, and even then not being always quite 

 sure that I had found the same plant before. I therefore 

 began to form a herbarium, collecting good specimens and 

 drying them carefully between drying papers and a couple 

 of boards weighted with books or stones. My brother, how- 

 ever, did not approve of my devotion to this study, even though 

 I had absolutely nothing else to do, nor did he suggest any 

 way in which I could employ my leisure more profitably. He 

 said very little to me on the subject beyond a casual remark, 

 but a letter from my mother showed me that he thought I 

 was wasting my time. Neither he nor I could foresee that it 

 would have any effect on my future life, and I myself only 

 looked upon it as an intensely interesting occupation for time 

 that would be otherwise wasted. Even when we were busy 

 I had Sundays perfectly free, and used then to take long 

 walks over the mountains with my collecting box, which I 

 brought home full of treasures. I first named the species as 

 nearly as I could do so, and then laid them out to be pressed 

 and dried. At such times I experienced the joy which every 

 discovery of a new form of life gives to the lover of nature, 

 almost equal to those raptures which I afterwards felt at 

 every capture of new butterflies on the Amazon, or at the 

 constant stream of new species of birds, beetles, and butter- 

 flies in Borneo, the Moluccas, and the Aru Islands. 



It must be remembered that my ignorance of plants at this 

 time was extreme. I knew the wild rose, bramble, hawthorn, 

 buttercup, poppy, daisy, and foxglove, and a very few others 

 equally common and popular, and this was all. I knew noth- 

 ing whatever as to genera and species, nor of the large num- 

 bers of distinct forms related to each other and grouped into 





