THIRD JOURNEY. 



131 



It was upon this hill in former days that I first tried 

 to teach John, the black slave of my friend Mr. Edmon- 

 stone, the proper way to do birds. But John had poor 

 abilities, and it required much time and patience to 

 drive anything into him. Some years after this his 

 master took him to Scotland, where, becoming free, 

 John left him, and got employed in the Glasgow, 

 and then the Edinburgh museum. Mr. Eobert Edmon- 

 stone, nephew to the above gentleman, had a fine 

 mulatto, capable of learning anything. He requested 

 me to teach him the art. I did so. He was docile 

 and active, and was with me all the time in the forest ; 

 I left him there to keep up this new art of preserving 

 birds, and to communicate it to others. Here then I 

 fixed my head-quarters, in the ruins of this once gay 

 and hospitable house. Close by, in a little hut, which, 

 in times long past, had served for a store to keep pro- 

 visions in, there lived a coloured man and his wife, by 

 name Backer. Many a kind turn they did to me ; and 

 I was more than once a service to them and their 

 children, by bringing to their relief, in time of sickness, 

 what little knowledge I had acquired of medicine. 



I would here, gentle reader, wish to draw thy atten- 

 Raimentand ^ 0I] > f° r a ^ ew minutes, to physic, raiment, 

 diet * and diet. Should st thou ever wander 



through these remote and dreary wilds, forget not to 

 carry with thee bark, laudanum, calomel, and jalap, and 

 the lancet. There are no druggist shops here, nor sons 

 of Galen to apply to in time of need. I never go en- 

 cumbered with many clothes. A thin flannel waistcoat 

 under a check shirt, a pair of trowsers, and a hat, were 

 all my wardrobe ; shoes and stockings I seldom had on. 

 In dry weather they would have irritated the feet, and 



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