910 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Ben Hope, and Ben Loyal. After visiting Mr. Brodie of Brodie, they 

 went to Caithness and the Orkneys, returning to Sutherland. In a 

 letter to Mr. Turner he thus describes their reception in Sutherland : 

 ' We did not leave North Sutherland with the good wishes of the 

 inhabitants, at least the lower classes of them, most of whom took 

 us for French spies, or, what is worse in their estimation, sheep - 

 farmers. Daniel Forbes, who so often acted as our guide, was advised 

 by some to conduct us by the worst way possible ; by others he was told 

 that he might be better employed. Our lad heard some saying that- 

 we ought to be flogged and sent out of the country. They have not 

 the least idea of persons travelling for mere curiosity, and could not be 

 persuaded that we were not come to do them some ill. . . The journey 

 through the north of Scotland was performed mainly on horses or ponies, 

 and the difficulties met with were such as can now be experienced only in 

 the out-of-the-way parts of the globe. ... In 1809 Sir Joseph Banks, 

 hearing of an opportunity for a naturalist visiting Iceland, where he 

 himself had been in 1772, suggested my father's taking advantage of 

 it. This he did, and all the more eagerly from having as a boy read 

 Van Troil's 'Letters on Iceland,' with a longing to visit the hot- 

 springs and volcanoes therein described. The opportunity was the 

 despatch of a vessel, the Margaret and Anne, with a letter of marque, 

 chartered by a London firm, Messrs. Phelps & Co., for the purpose of 

 obtaining a cargo of tallow. The venture was a risky one, for Denmark, 

 to which country Iceland belonged, was at war with England ; and 

 the firm were enticed to undertake it by a Danish prisoner of war, 

 Jorgen Jorgensen by name, who was now for the second time about to 

 break his parole and accompany the ship in the interest of the firm. 

 The Margaret and Anne sailed June 2, and on arriving June 21 at 

 Reikevik, Jorgensen, finding that commerce with England was prohibited, 

 effected a revolution in the island, proclaimed its independence of the 

 Danish crown and himself its 'Protector,' imprisoned the Governor, 

 Count Tramp, erected a fort armed with six guns, equipped troops, 

 remodelled the laws, established representative government and trial by 

 jury, reduced the taxes, and raised the salaries of the clergy ; all without 

 shedding a drop of blood or an attempt at resistance on the part of the 

 people ! " We here omit an account of Sir William's reception, and, with 

 regret, the relation of exciting events connected with his return. His 

 ship, the Margaret and Anne, was set on fire by Danish prisoners of war 

 who were on board. " Unfortunately the fire broke out on a part of the 

 ship where his collections were stored, and he lost everything but a few 

 weeks of his journal, the clothes he stood in, and an Icelandic lady's 

 wedding dress which the ship's steward flung into the boat as she shoved 

 off from the burning wreck. 



" Scon after his return, and yielding to the wishes of his friends, he 

 commenced writing his ' Journal of a Tour in Iceland.' On hearing 

 of this Sir Joseph Banks most liberally offered him the use of his own 

 manuscript journal and various other papers relating to the island, 

 together with the magnificent drawings of the scenery, dresses of the 

 inhabitants, &C., which were made by the artist who accompanied him 

 in his voyage thither in 1772. With these materials, his own journal of 



