KOUND TRIP BETWEEN IOWA AND PUGET SQUND. 243 



tains are two or three miles away at Lake Louise, and the high- 

 est of the front mountains, Mount Fairview, reaches an eleva- 

 tion of only a little more than four thousand feet above Laggan, 

 which itself stands over fortv-nine himdred feet above sea level. 

 But after one has ascended Mount Fairview and has counted 

 more than a hundred other peaks, some of which are still three 

 thosand or more feet above him; after he has looked upon the 

 hundreds of glaciers and snow fields to be seen in all directions, 

 of all sizes, and some of them three thousand feet above him, 

 while others are as far below ; after he has climbed six thousand 

 feet or more in a day, often with no trail, sometimes finding his 

 path of ascent or descent barred by hundreds of feet of perpen- 

 dicular mountain face; after he has sent balanced rocks crash- 

 ing down the mountain side four thoiisand feet; after he has 

 looked at the blue waters of the mountain lakes, some of them 

 more than a half mile below him ; and after he has seen such an 

 array of alpine plants, of whatever sort most interests him, as is 

 rarely to be found, he is convinced that at least one other bit of 

 scenery has not been, and cannot be, exaggerated by any sort of 

 word-painting. 



Space will allow nothing more here than a brief statement 

 regarding the climbs of Mount Fairview, Mount St. Piran and 

 tAvo or three other peaks on two successive days, parts of the as- 

 cents and descents being made without trail and in places over 

 xevy rough and dangerous mountain topography. The "Rockies 

 are by no means as well supplied with snow and water as the Sel- 

 kirks, and the herbaceous plants did not impress the writer as 

 being so numerous ; but the lichens are more abundant and in- 

 teresting at Laggan than at Glacier. At least a larger collection 

 was made at Laggan, and the lichen flora seemed more interest- 

 ing, both at lower and higher elevations, in spite of the fact that 

 more time was spent at the former place. At Laggan, attention 

 was directed chieflv to the lichens of the highest altitudes 

 reached, perhaps two thousand feet above the tree line and four 

 thousand feet above the lower limits of the glaciers. The high- 

 est elevation attained was somethina* over nine thousand feet. 



