86 TRAVELS IN 
have tempted none but children : thus ours, 
in the heart of the country, regale themfelves 
nobly on the produce of the hedges that fur* 
round our highways. Some of thefc wild 
fruits have a purgative q^uality, and are good 
for nothing elfe, 
Though unacquainted with more than 
one interefting part of natural hiftory, I 
fhould have thought myfelf highly culpable 
in climates fo remote, and countries never 
before traverfed, to negledt any occafion of 
ftudying thofe new objefts with which I faw 
myfelf continually furrounded, J cpnfefq 
that I was entirely ignorant of botany ; but 
I did not however fail to make fome re- 
fearches relating to that fcience, which^^ 
though it neither fpeaks to the heart, nor 
conveys any fentiment to the mind, has for 
its objeft beneficence, and a delire of being 
ufeful to man. When I found any bulbous 
plants or flirubs, the flowers and fruits of 
which attradled my attention, I was very 
careful to get poileffion of them, and I pre- 
ferved alfo the feeds. In my various en- 
campments I had even improved fo much^ 
that I was capable of comparing different 
vegetable produdions, and of pbferving the 
relation 
