Hunting Lore 273 



least of all for the sluggish pickerel, and his big 

 brother of the Great Lakes, the muscallonge. 



Yet the sport yielded by rod and smooth-bore is 

 really less closely kin to the strong pleasures so be 

 loved by the hunter who trusts in horse and rifle than 

 are certain other outdoor pastimes, of the rougher 

 and hardier kind. Such a pastime is snowshoeing, 

 whether with webbed rackets, in the vast northern 

 forests, or with skees, on the bare slopes of the 

 Rockies. Such is mountaineering, especially when 

 joined with bold exploration of the unknown. Most 

 of our mountains are of rounded shape, and though 

 climbing them is often hard work, it is rarely diffi 

 cult or dangerous, save in bad weather, or after a 

 snowfall. But there are many of which this is not 

 true; the Tetons, for instance, and various glacier- 

 bearing peaks in the Northwest; while the lofty, 

 snow-clad ranges of British Columbia and Alaska 

 offer one of the finest fields in the world for the 

 daring cragsman. 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 discomfort and danger, far more 

 need to display resolution, hardihood, and wisdom 

 in such an attempt than in any expedition on well- 



