54 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



heavily hobnailed, and while I had thought mine as 

 light as one dared use in that region of ragged rocks, 

 I found that for cliff-climbing they were too heavy, and 

 too stiff in the soles. Of course knee-breeches are the 

 thing, but they should be so well cut that in steep 

 climbing they will not drag on the knees, and waste the 

 climber's horse-power; and there should be a generous 

 opening at the knee. 



In those mountains, four things, and only four, are 

 positively indispensable to every party, — rifles, axes, field- 

 glasses and blankets. Each member of our hunting 

 party carried a good glass, and never stirred from camp 

 without it. For myself, I tried an experiment. Two 

 months previously Mrs. Hornaday selected for me, in 

 Paris, a very good opera-glass, made by Lemaire, with 

 a field that was delightfully large and clear. While not 

 quite so powerful a magnifier as the strongest binoculars 

 now on the market, its field was so much clearer that I 

 thought I would prefer it. It was much smaller than 

 any regulation field-glass, and I carried it either in a 

 pocket of my trousers, or loose inside my hunting-shirt, 

 quite forgetful of its weight. 



It proved a great success. We found much interest 

 in testing it with binoculars five times as costly, and the 

 universal verdict was that it would reveal an animal as 

 far as a hunter could go to it, and find it. I mention this 

 because in climbing I found it well worth while to be 

 free from a dangling leather case that is always in the 

 way, and often is too large for comfort. 



From our camp we went north, along the top of the 



