The Days of a Man 1:1895 



whenever possible, and in tlie long vacations we 



sometimes wandered far afield. During the summer 



The of this year we had two fine outings. Leaving home 



Yellow- jj^ early June, we first visited the Yellowstone, this 



stone azain . . re • i i i • 



time as tourists, not as omcial explorers having 

 the freedom of the park.^ Nevertheless, the Upper 

 Geyser Basin, with Old Faithful and his colleagues, 

 and the Great Fall of the Yellowstone were as 

 impressive as before. 



Our second trip was to Summit Soda Springs on 

 one of the upper sources of the North Fork of the 

 American River. This was at that time an agree- 

 able resort — a small hotel and several cabins 

 grouped about a fine carbonated spring with a pretty 

 waterfall behind, and the tall pines crowding close. 

 With the tiny chipmunks, always eager to take 

 advantage of chance charities, we became great 

 Mountain fricnds. For indeed the dwarf mountain forms of 

 chipmunks ^i^jg charming beastie, the various species of the 

 Western and Asiatic genus — Eutamias — are live- 

 lier and more sociable than the one Eastern Tamias. 

 To me they are more interesting also, as the splitting 

 into many species of Eutamias perfectly illustrates 

 the efi^ects of isolation and localization, every sepa- 

 rate mountain forest having its own kind which 

 seldom wanders far, and therefore does not mate 

 with cousins even only a little removed. They thus 

 offer some of the best examples of what I have called 

 ''geminate species." - 

 The Not far from the springs rises the Devil's Wood- 



Devii's _ piie^ an amazing dyke of perfect basaltic columns 

 °° ^'^ scarcely less remarkable than the Giant's Causeway 

 in Ireland or the Repos de PAigle in Auvergne. 



1 See Chapter xiv, page 337. ^ See Chapter xiv, page 329. 



I 5363 



