Shortly afterwards he went off to Jedburgh to take up again his survey in the Cheviots. Here he made many friends, and during his stay in the region acquired an intense love for the scenery of the hills, whose long gentle slopes and soft melancholy always appealed to him more than the stern grandeur of the Highlands. This feeling was perhaps not wholly æsthetic, however, for the district soon acquired associations for him which are briefly hinted at in the diary for the year. This--of somewhat unusual form--is adorned, oddly enough, with a portrait of John Stuart Mill as frontispiece. The philosopher’s serious, intellectual countenance has, it is to be feared in derision, been decorated by the owner of the diary with a long pipe. It would indeed be difficult to imagine two men of more different type; for James Geikie, the utilitarian’s long years of waiting and longing would have been as intolerable as the brief fever of the last days. The entries in the diary are as usual short in the extreme, but under 12th August, which it is carefully noted was a wet day, the diarist was at a picnic in the Cheviots. He adds the word “lost”? to the laconic entry. Later entries record calls made to Crailing Hall with brief comments. About this time James Geikie was writing to his friend Mr Horne, saying:--“John Horne--come to the Cheviots.... I’ll do what I can in the way of introductions.” Much of the letter is occupied with geological matters, and the writer goes on to express a hope that he won’t be asked to give a course of lectures to working-men during the coming winter:--“I want all my time for literary work this winter, seeing that I have agreed to write two books--one for a London house, the other for an Edinburgh one. Besides, I have at last made up my mind to go and get married, and as soon as I come across a likely girl, will lose no time in taking the grand header. I hope never to see another autumn as a bachelor. So what with hunting libraries for notes, and hunting up families for a nice wife, I have my winter’s work laid out before me.” It will appear from this letter that James Geikie did not keep his heart on his sleeve. The letter is not perhaps wholly candid, but candour was doubtless not to be expected at such a time.