452 The Wilderiiess Hiintc7\ 



bia and Alaska offer one of the finest fields in the world 

 for the darinor cracrsman. Mountaineering^ is among: the 

 manliest of sports ; and it is to be hoped that some of 

 our young men with a taste for hard work and adventure 

 among the high hills will attempt the conquest of these 

 great untrodden mountains of their own continent. As 

 with all pioneer work, there would be far more discom- 

 fort and danger, far more need to display resolution, hardi- 

 hood, and wisdom in such an attempt than in any expedi- 

 tion on well known and historic ground like the Swiss 

 Alps ; but the victory would be a hundred-fold better 

 worth winning. 



The dweller or sojourner in the wilderness who most 

 keenly loves and appreciates his wild surroundings, and 

 all their sights and sounds, is the man who also loves and 

 appreciates the books which tell of them. 



Foremost of all American writers on outdoor life is 

 John Burroughs ; and I can scarcely suppose that any 

 man who cares for existence outside the cities would will- 

 ingly be without anything that he has ever written. To 

 the naturalist, to the observer and lover of nature, he is 

 of course worth many times more than any closet sys- 

 tematist ; and though he has not been very much in really 

 wild regions, his pages so thrill with the sights and sounds 

 of outdoor life that nothing by any writer who is a mere 

 professional scientist or a mere professional hunter can 

 take their place, or do more than supplement them — for 

 scientist and hunter alike would do well to remember that 

 before a book can take the highest rank in any particular 

 line it must also rank high in literature proper. Of 



