This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project
to make the world's books discoverable online.
It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject
to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books
are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.
Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the
publisher to a library and finally to you.
Usage guidelines
Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:
+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for
personal, non-commercial purposes.
+ Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.
+ Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.
+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe.
About Google Book Search
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web
at http : //books . google . com/|
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Digitized by VjOOQIC
%'
i
/
Digitized by VjOOQIC
THE YOUNG SHETLANDER,
Shadow over the Sunshine .•
LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
THOMAS EDMONDSTON,
NATURALIST ON BOARD H.M.S. " HBBALD."
EDITED BY
HIS MOTHER
EDINBURGH:
JVtOTJLD & TOD.
1868,
Digitized by VjOOQIC
^-^4^,
I'''
EDINBUBGH : PRINTBD BY MOULD AND TOD.
- ^
Digitized by VjOOQIC
JHE following record has been often asked
for, by the many friends of a talented and
greatly beloved ybung man. It is at
length offered in the hope that it may prove instructive
as well as interesting.
The locality where he was bom and brought up is
peculiar and little known, even in these days of incess-
ant travelling. Thirty years ago it was in a much more
primitive and isolated condition. Steam communication,
penny postage, and cheap literature, were then in the
first stages of existence, for which reason some of tlie
episodes and descriptions that mingle with the biogra-
phical narrative are recorded, as displaying a pliase of
society now almost obsolete in Britain, and also as
illustrative of their bearing on the formation of a
powerful and attractive character.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
iv PREFACE.
The study of IS^atural History, to which the subject
of this memoir was so enthusiastically devoted, and in
which he was so successful, is in these days much more
generally pursued than in his time, and seldom fails
to prove interesting. Thomas Carlyle lately thus wrote
of it — " For many years it has heen one of my constant
regrets that no schoolmaster of mine had a knowledge
of iN'atural History, so far at least as to have taught me
the little winged and wingless neighbours, that are con-
tinually meeting me with a salutation which I cannot
answer, as things are ! I love to prophesy that there
will come a time when in all Scottish towns and villages
the schoolmaster will he strictly required to possess such
capabilities."
In perusing the Letters that follow, it will be seen
how generous was the help afforded to the youthful
student, first to last and in every possible way, by
gentlemen of the highest reputation in I^atural Science ;
a help which his friends gratefully appreciated at the
time, and shaU never forget. To those who have pre-
served through so many changeful years, and have now
lent their young correspondent's letters, here to be made
use of, especial thanks are now offered.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
€anUnU,
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY, AND IN MEMORIAM,
vii
CHAPTER I.
EARLY CHILDHOOD, .
CHAPTER II.
1
SCHOOL DAYS,
CHAPTER III.
29
RECREATIONS IN SHETLAND,
48
CHAPTER IV.
BOYISH STUDIES,
CHAPTER V.
57
BOTANICAL TOURS, .
CHAPTER VI.
67
SEEING THE WORLD,
CHAPTER VII.
77
STUDIES IN SHETLAND,
CHAPTER VIII.
99
COLLEGE,
CHAPTER IX.
131
BEGINNING TO TEACH,
CHAPTER X.
101
PROGRESS AND PROFESSORSHIP,
191
CHAPTER XI.
FAR COUNTRIES,
.
231
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Intrntrjtrrtnrg;
|n Ptm0nam.
JT was on a bright summer's day in 1863,
in the city of Glasgow, that a gentleman
there resident, * happened to be looking
into a print-seUer^s shop window, and ob-
served a water-colour drawing which was entitled "The
Lonely Grave." It represented a tropical scene on the
banks of a beautiful bay. A British fiigate lay at
anchor on an unruffled sea, and some stately palms
over-shadowed a mound on a slight eminence. At the
head of the mound was a rude cross, and on looking
closer the gentleman read the name engraven on the
head-stone. It was one familiar to him, and in the
course of the forenoon, scarcely deeming it more than
Digitized by VjOOQIC
viii INTRO D UCTOR Y:
a coincidence, he casually mentioned the circumstance
to his hrother, who had, about two years previously,
married a young lady of the same name, in short, one
of the sisters of the lonely sleeper in that tropical
grave. "With fraternal interest, the latter gentleman
at once hastened to the print-shop, purchased the
drawing, and obtained the artist's address. He, Lieut.
Anderson, strange to say, had not only belonged to the
expedition, but was the midshipman specially told off
to attend Mr Edmondston on excursions, and was with
him to the last.
Thus, in the kind mysterious course of Divine pro-
vidence, a chain of association, sunk for well nigh
twenty years, dsA over which grief had thrown a veil
of silence, was recovered ; and a family that had not
ceased to deplore the loss of their " first and fairest,"
was brought into contact with those who had been
his associates in the last and most interesting year of
his short life. Supplied in this singular way with
many materials, hitherto apparently beyond reach, it
has been frequently suggested that a short Memoir
of an accomplished youth, whose name is still as a
talisman in many hearts should be prepared. While it
is beyond a doubt that few indeed, of the very many to
whom he was known, are ever likely to forget him and
the early blighted promise of his career, — ^to his kindred
and to their descendants, a few particulars of his life
and character will be more especially valuable. The
Digitized by VjOOQIC
AND IN MEMO RI AM. ix
materials are culled from the recollections of his still
surviving, still sorrowing parents, and from his letters
and papers.
In the Times newspaper of the 13th June 1846, ap-
peared the following paragraph : —
" Melancholy Catastrophe. — Letters from some
of the officers of the * Herald,' and her tender, the
* Pandora,' have been received, dated April 24. The
* Herald,' Capt. Kellet, had been to the Gallapagos,
and returned to the coast on the 22nd January. While
off the mouth of the small river Sua, about five miles
from Atacamas, an accident occurred which has de-
prived the expedition of one of its most valuable officers,
just at the period when his services were beginning to
be required. A party had been employed on shore,
and on returning to the boats, a loaded rifle happened
to be touched by one of them, when jumping into a
boat after wading through the surf. It went off and
the ball first struck the arm of the clerk, slightly
wounding him, and then passed through the head of
Mr Edmondston, the Naturalist of the expedition,
killing him on the spot. His death was instantaneous.
His loss will be greatly felt, as Mr Edmondston was
an exceedingly amiable and talented young man, de-
servedly regarded by his messmates and all on board
the * Herald,' and, although but twenty years of age, had
greatly distinguished himself in his profession. He
Digitized by VjOOQIC
X INTRODUCTORY:
had lately been elected Botanical Professor of the
Andersonian University of Glasgow ; he was also the
author of a botanical work, * The Flora of Shetland/
His remains were buried on shore on the following day
with funeral honours."
In the " Voyage of the Herald," published after her
return to Britain in 1853, by Mr Berthold Seemann, the
author says : — " The piece of oak which was placed at
the head of his grave may be searched for in vain ; but
his brother !N"aturalists will meet on the shores of the
ocean on which their talented colleague perished, an
evergreen shrub, with dark red panicles. It is the
Edmondstonia pacifica, — ^a monument to his memory
by an ardent admirer of his talents."
" This plant is figured in plate xviii. of the * Botany
of H. M. S. Herald,' and is so dififerent from all known
genera, that it wiU probably become the type of a new
natural order."
Paragraph extracted from the late Professor Edward
Forbes's "Literary Papers," under, Notice of the
Surveying Expedition of H. M. S. Herald in 1846,
(page 98).
" Captain Kellet was accompanied by a promising
and talented I^aturalist, Mr Thomas Edmondston, who,
though but a youth, had already given good earnest of
Digitized by VjOOQIC
AND IN MEMORIAM. xi
his powers, and love for science. "We remember well
the zeal and delight with which this young genius —
for such he assuredly was — entered upon a mission so
suitable to his talents and taste, and so likely to prove
prolific in discovery. Alas ! all these hopes and
anticipations were fated to be destroyed. Mr Ed-
mondston met with an early and awfully sudden death.
He was shot by accident when returning from lus work,
whilst the ' Herald ' was anchored off the river Sua, in
the Bay of Atacamas."
Copy of a letter, from J. 0. Goodridge, Esq., E.N.,
Surgeon to the Expedition, addressed to A. J. Syming-
ton, Esq.
" January 19, 1864.
" It would give me much satisfaction could I give
fuller information regarding the late Mr T. Edmondston ;
but at this late date many circumstances have passed
from my recollection. When he first joined the ship
he was very young ; but, by his most estimable disposi-
tion, soon became esteemed and loved by alL Never,
through the whole of my sea life, have I known any
loss more deeply regretted, or one which so completely
destroyed the very existence of an expedition."
Rear-Admiral Kellet thus writes to A. J. Symington,
Esq., on 9th May 1864 :—
Digitized by VjOOQIC
xii INTROD UCTOR Y:
" So long as recoDection is left me, time can never
sweep away my admiration for poor young Edmond-
ston's ability, or my esteem for his personal character.
How well I recollect the loneliness of the ship, and the
depression of all on board when the accident was re-
ported. We buried him, poor fellow, in a lonely little
spot, but surrounded by the most luxuriant foliage ; a
place that the poor fellow himself woidd haye loved
to ramble about. Captain Chimmo made a drawing
of it."
Extract from a letter written by the Eeverend
Dr Gordon to Mrs Edmondston.
" The Manse, Bimie, Elgin,
" 17th October 1865.
" Your note brought back to my thoughts the many
pleasing and instructive hours I spent with your valued
son, while he was in this district for a few weeks, twenty
year ago, and also revived the deep feelings of regret
which his sudden decease caused to myself and to all
his acquaintances. I know not an instance in which
the early death of an individual so much blighted the
well founded hopes of his advancing the interests of
Natural Science generally, for he was well prepared in
almost all its departments, G. Gordon."
Acrostic on Thomas Edmondston, by Mr Whiffin,
Purser of H. M. S. Herald.
"On the 18th October 1847.— We directed our
Digitized by VjOOQIC
AND IN MEMORIAM, xiii
course to the Sua Eiver. Most of us paid a visit to
tlie grave of Thomas Edmondston. The luxuriant
vegetation had spread a verdant mantle over the tomb,
and surrounded it with brilliant flowers. It was to all
a sad recoDection ; many an expression of pity was
uttered, and Mr J. G. Whiffin, who was present on the
occurrence of the accident which deprived poor Ed-
mondston of his life, penned the following acrostic : — *
" 'Twas from this beautiful and rock bound bay
Heav'n deemed it right to call his soul away
One moment*s warning was to him denied ;
'Midst life and youth, and health and hope, he died.
Alas ! that boastful science could not save
So apt a scholar from his early grave !
Even those who knew not of his private worth
Deplore his talents buried in the earth.
*Mong flowers that gem the softly verdant groimd,
O'erspread with trees, his grave is to be found.
No crowd his resting place shall ever view ;
StiU sad affection will induce a few
To gaze, where plants, o'er which he lavished years,
O'er him, now silent, shed their dewy tears,
Nor seek to hide a grief denied to nobler biers ! "
" Voyage of the Herald," voL i., p. 216.
* There is an error in the spelling of the name.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
xir INTRODUCTORY:
The following sketch of Thomas Edmondston's
character was written to A. J. Symington, soon after
he had obtained possession of the water-colour drawing
called " The Lonely Grave," by Dr Edmondston, his
father, who is in all respects thoroughly -competent to
appreciate and delineate it : —
" I have noticed with intense pleasure the lively
and affectionate interest you have taken in what re-
lates to your deceased brother-in-law. No one ever
knew him from childhood up, who was not charmed
with him. Not only were his intellectual faculties
wonderful, but his fancy, his affection, his manner,
were to the last degree captivating. A capacity for
the severer sciences, united with the most ardent love
for manly sports and gymnastics — the power of inde-
fatigable application with the most playful imagination
and humour — a boundless memory with a precocious
and powerful judgment — a strongly developed power of
philosophical generalization with a perspicuous and fluent
style. Meek and gentle as a lamb, he ever showed the
unflinching courage of a lion. He had no hot-bed forcing,
— every thing came to him naturally, spontaneously, I
may almost say intuitively. He was as extraordinary
as a child as a stripling. Nature did almost all for him, —
art, or what is called education, little, beyond what he
derived from the society of his own family. His de-
portment was so affectionate and engaging that never
Digitized by VjOOQIC
AND IN MEMORIAM. xv
in the course of his too short life — ^no, never ! — can we
recollect a frown or act of wilful disobedience. All
this is saying little of what he was. No wonder we
never recovered the blow of the separation. He was
the darling of his shipmates. Captain Kellet wrote of
him, that in aU his experience he had never met one
whose mental powers and information had so impressed
him. Edward Forbes lamented him as a serious loss
to science ; and all this of a boy of twenty from the
solitudes of Unst ! "
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Digitized by VjOOQIC
CHAPTER I.
^arlg Cpir|^00ir*
HOMAS EDMONDSTON was bom at
Buness, in the island of Unst, tlie most
nortlierly of the Shetlandic group, on the
20th September 1825. He was the eldest
son of Laurence Edmondston, M.D., well known to
naturalists and others as one who has done good ser-
vice in different departments of science. His mother
is the eldest grand-child of the late venerable Dr John-
ston, minister of North Leith, whose piety, benevo-
lence, and exertions in founding the Blind Asylum of
Edinburgh, are remembered by many.
We have much faith in the doctrine of hereditary
excellencies. We think that those who have had
ancestors remarkable for great or good qualities, have a
right to " thank God and take courage," and that when
we find a young person singularly lovable, and richly
Digitized by VjOOQIC
2 LIFE OF THOMAS EDMONDSTON,
endowed intellectually, we may, without greatly erring,
be led to the conclusion that he was fortunate in his
forefathers.
The Shetland branch of the family of Edmondston
has been resident there, and connected with most of
the old Norse or Scandinavian families, ever since
the reign of Queen Mary, when a non-juring clergyman
found in those islands a safe retreat, and eventually a
living as a parish minister. A son or grandson who
succeeded him, is traditionally said to have been a very
clever and accomplished man, — especially distinguished
for his attainments in medicine and botany. His de-
scendants — almost all of them — emigrated, as by far'
the greater proportion of the Shetland young men do
to this day.
Por thirty years there had not been a son bom in
the family, and for double that space of time, not
one in the ancestral mansion, so that the birth of
the young Thomas was lovingly welcomed. And this
circumstance would perhaps account for the more
than ordinary interest and attention bestowed upon
him from the very beginning. He was bom in the
house of Buness, the residence of his uncle the late
Thomas Edmondston Esq., where, five years before, the
late eminent mvaid of the French Academy, Monsieur
J. B. Biot, had resided for some weeks engaged in
astronomical observations, to* determine the exact
amount of the depression of the earth at its poles.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
EARLY CHILDHOOD. 3
For this purpose a station was necessary as far north
as possible, and on the same degree of longitude as the
points in France and Africa where sinular measure-
ments had been already effected. That favoured locality
was Buness; and the accomplished Frenchman, with
the assistance only of an intelligent boat carpenter,
there succeeded in making a series of astronomical ob-
servations of great value to the scientific world. M.
Biot was of a most amiable domestic character, and his
memory is proudly cherished in the scene of his lonely
sojourn. Soon after his return to Paris, he wrote for
the French Academy an account of his visit to Unst,
so eloquent, so touchingly truthful, that we imagine
we cannot do better than give an extract here, in order
to present some idea of life in the Shetland islands,
which, little understood now, was much less so then.
Indeed the scenery and domestic manliers of that day,
so graphically and lovingly portrayed, are, in the on-
ward progress distinctive of our time, become things of
the past, and therefore belong to history.
After detailing the nature, intention, and results of
the trigonometrical observations, M. Biot goes on to
mention the kindness and hospitality he experienced
in the household at Buness, and the excellent opportu-
nity he enjoyed of becoming familiar with the inner
life as it were of these remote islanders. " Had it been
otherwise," he says, " I could not have imagined what
allurements were powerful enough to retain them in
Digitized by VjOOQIC
4 LIFE OF THOMAS EDMONDSTON,
their stormy, foggy, country ; without roads — ^without
a tree on hill or plain, — a climate of rain and of
tempestuous winds, where the atmosphere is constantly
impregnated with cold, saline moisture, the only
alleviation of the severity of winter being the sad con-
dition that there is no summer. That which binds
them to their country is the peace — the profound
unwavering peace they enjoy, — the sweets of which
they profoundly appreciate. For twenty-five years,
during which all Europe was laid waste by the demons,
of war, in Unst never — ^hardly even in Lerwick — ^was
the roll of a drum heard. For twenty-five years the
door of the house I dwelt in had remained open, night
as well as day. In all that time no conscription or
press-gang came near to trouble or afllict the poor but
peaceftd inhabitants of this little isle. The numerous
rocks that surround it, which render it accessible only
in favourable weather, serve like a fleet to defend them
from corsairs in war time. And what would corsairs
come here in search of % Here are received the news
from Europe as if reading the history of the preceding
century. They recall no personal misfortune, they
awaken no animosity, therefore, they have not that
interest, — or rathe;r that momentary enthusiasm which
rouses the passions — and they can philosophize with
calmness on events which seem to them to relate to
another world. If they had only trees and sun, no
residence could be more delicious, but if they had trees
Digitized by VjOOQIC
EARLY CHILDHOOD. 5
and mm, all the world woidd wish to be there, and
there would be tranquillity no longer.
" This calm habitual security gives to the social re-
lations a charm elsewhere unknown. Every one here
in the upper class is kinsman, or connection, or friend ;
and friendships are the same as connections. But as
in this world evil must always be mingled with the
good, the happiness of living as if one large femily, is
sometimes dearly bought, — it causes to be felt most
bitterly the loss of any of the individuals on which are
centred the affections of the rest. The unhappiness
of one family is affliction to alL It proves nearly an
equal grief when brothers or some other friends leave
their home seeking fortune elsewhere ; for it is too
common an occurrence, that their island, or all the
islands, do not fiimish sufficient employment for the
better class of the population. The parting is felt by
those who remain as a death — ^and a death it is in truth
too often, — ^as very probably those who thus take leave
are seen here no more. Even the friendships which
these kindly natives contract for strangers whom they
'thus favour, become for their poor hearts only subjects
of grief or regret, which the distant voice of gratitude
but faintly alleviates.
" This necessity of expatriating themselves, with Shet-
landers of the upper class, is caused by the limited ex-
tension of commerce and of agriculture, in consequence
of want of capital, and the few opportunities for ex-
Digitized by VjOOQIC
6 LIFE OF THOMAS EDMONDSTON.
portation of the products of the country. A small
portion only of the lands of each proprietor is cultivated.
The rest serves for pasturage to herds of half-wild sheep
and horses, which wander during the whole year over
the hills, without care and without restraint. The
people clear out around their cottages a portion of
ground only sufficient for their own individual subsist-
ence, and that of their family ; and they pay rent for it
from the profits of the perilous but attractive occupation
of fishing. All the men follow this calling, and with a
degree of hardihood almost without paraUeL Six men
who are good at the oar, and who have confidence in each
other, associate themselves together as a crew for one
boat, which is a slight skiff, entirely undecked. They
carry with them a small quantity of water, some oat