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of Edinburgh^ Session 1862 - 63 . 
and literary intelligence. Of modern books he read very few, 
but probably occupied his leisure in reviewing the records of his 
geological tours, and, perhaps, in extending them for the purpose 
of future publication. He was a very assiduous observer of Meteor- 
ological changes, of which he kept a constant record, and by the 
aid of his barometer, and his great knowledge of atmospheric elfects, 
his cautions became of the most practical value to the fishing popu- 
lation of Portree, by whom, as indeed by all the islanders, he was 
regarded with much respect and interest, to which the peculiarity 
of his manner of life, and his extreme shyness towards persons in 
his own rank of life, no doubt contributed. The prediction of 
storms was with him for many years a matter of systematic study, 
and his warnings were at least as much regarded by the Skye 
sailors as any which Admiral Fitzroy could now furnish. Indeed, 
one use which he made of his newspaper studies was to trace, by 
means of the Shipping Intelligence, tbe progress of gales not only 
over Britain but to the most distant parts of the Atlantic, and he 
has often discussed with me the results of these interesting, and far 
from easy investigations. In other respects also he took a sincere 
interest in the welfare of his poorer neighbours. His kindness was 
unpretending, and the extent of his liberality will never be known. 
It is little to say that it was exercised occasionally in ways pecu- 
liarly of his own devising, and that he was sometimes the dupe of 
designing or unworthy petitioners. But in a country, a portion of 
whose population may be said to be ever on the verge of destitution, 
the presence of so generous a friend was a public benefit. 
From 1851 the state of my own health made renewed journeys 
to Skye impossible, and through a most unfortunate accident (which 
I need not explain) our correspondence was for some years inter- 
rupted. Before this, however, the intense gloom supervening upon 
his mother’s death had become, in some measure, dissipated. He 
no longer rejected the visits of his countrymen, or eschewed corre- 
spondence as he had once done. The death of his only brother in 
1849 affected him considerably, but led him to welcome the younger 
relatives, who now almost every summer gladdened his solitary 
chamber. It is cheering to know that the later years of so good a 
man were blessed with a revival of domestic interests, from which 
an invincible melancholy, foreign alike to his original disposition 
