128 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



of mountain vegetation, and to the ever-interesting mam- 

 mal and bird fauna of the steeps. The works and ways 

 of Nature at timber-line held absolutely nothing of spe- 

 cial interest to him, save as they furnished things to 

 climb over. He was interested in forests only as they 

 burned, and their smoke obscured the view of summits 

 to be climbed. In a volume of more than four hundred 

 pages the author devotes half a page to the flora of a 

 magnificent domain of mountains, and three pages to 

 their animal life! Really, is it not strange? 



Often when in the tropics I lamented my lack of 

 botanical knowledge, but not half so much as I deplored 

 it in the Columbian Rockies. To pass over twice in one 

 day the uppermost limits of perhaps fifty species of 

 plants and trees, and know of them so very little, was at 

 times really depressing. Each of the few species which 

 I did recognize was as welcome as the face of a friend 

 at a crowded reception. 



To me, Charlie Smith was truly a guide, philosopher 

 and friend, and at all times a source of intellectual com- 

 fort. He loves the mountains so well that no money 

 consideration can tempt him to leave them. He loves 

 them in storm or in calm, amid the terrors of winter as 

 well as the delights of spring, summer and fall. Once 

 while resting on a lofty summit, with a magnificent pano- 

 rama spread out at our feet, and stretching away to the 

 Continental Divide, he said to me: 



" I have had chances to go into business, and in some 

 of them I am sure I could have made money. Possibly 

 I could have become moderately rich. But what would 



