WALK TO LONDON 
27 
ment, and adhered strictly to it throughout. Day 
by day he took careful note of all the plants and 
birds which he saw by the way, recording full 
descriptions of them in his journal, often late at 
night and at times in clothes dripping from drench¬ 
ing rain. 
In a passage near the beginning of the journal, 
he writes as follows :— 
“Being naturally or perhaps from habit of a rest¬ 
less disposition, I feel inclined ever to bestir me and 
to be up and doing. In London City there is, I am 
told, a great collection of beasts and fishes and of 
birds and other flying things, of reptiles and insects 
—in short, of all the creatures which have been 
found upon the face of the earth. Thither therefore 
I shall direct my steps, because I am desirous of 
furthering my cognition of these things.” 
And again he writes that his main object in 
undertaking the journey on foot was to u extend 
my knowledge in natural history — especially in 
ornithology and botany, which can only be done 
by travelling.” 
He left Old Aberdeen on 7th September 1819, 
and in his journal under that date he writes 
“ I rose to-day about half-past four, breakfasted 
about five, and soon after set out. After passing 
through King Street, Castle Street, and the Ship 
Row, I got to Deeside near Black’s Brewery. 
Here I fixed my knapsack on my shoulders. The 
articles contained by it and by my pockets not 
mentioned are a penknife, a small ink piece with 
pens, a small itinerary jof Scotland, a glass for 
