LONDON AT LAST 
53 
was obliged to stand for several hours for a servant 
of Mr Cowie who was to procure lodging for me. 
Mr Cowie is a Scotsman from Banff. I was 
directed to him by Dr Barclay. He was very kind 
and affable, and I dined with him. At length a 
room was got for me, and I proceeded to it with 
my baggage.. After washing my feet with warm 
water, I got into a famous bed and had a glorious 
snoring bout till nine this morning (Thursday, 21st 
October), when I rose and breakfasted. I have 
now got into decent clothes, and I had need, as 
may readily be believed, after performing a journey 
of 800 miles on foot. ... I have now finished my 
journey, and I am satisfied with my conduct/ 5 
He appears to have been quite equal, notwith¬ 
standing the exhausted condition in which he arrived 
in London, to commence at once his visits to the 
British Museum and other places which specially 
interested him. He remained in London seven 
days, much occupied the whole time, and returned 
to Aberdeen by the steamboat, arriving there on 
7th November 1819. The time occupied from his 
departure for London to his return to Aberdeen, 
was thus two months, while the distance which he 
walked on his journey to London was 837J miles. 
With regard to his visit to the British Museum, 
he writes in his journal:— 
u I paid most attention to the birds—particu¬ 
larly to the collection of British birds. I was glad 
to find that most of my opinions regarding the 
genera of birds were deemed correct, for the 
improvements upon the Linnsean system, which 
had occurred to me on my journey through the 
d 2 
