FAR AND NEAR 



geologists, and other specialists, besides artists, 

 photographers, two physicians, one trained nurse, 

 one doctor of divinity, and at least one dreamer. 



Dr. Dall was our Alaska specialist, having pre- 

 viously visited the territory thirteen times, and hav- 

 ing spent many years there. In John INIuir we had 

 an authority on glaciers, and a thorough one; he 

 looked upon them with the affection and the air of 

 proprietorship with which a shepherd looks upon his 

 flock. The Indians used to call him the Great Ice 

 Chief. Dr. Fernow was our professor of forestry and 

 might be called the Great Tree Chief. Then what 

 Professors Emerson, Palache, and Gilbert could not 

 tell us about the geology of the country, or Brew-er 

 and Gannett about the climate and physical geo- 

 graphy, or Coville and Trelease about the plants, 

 or Ritter and Saunders about the life in the sea, or 

 Merriam about the mammals, or Ridgw^ay and Fisher 

 about the birds, or Elliot about the game-birds, or 

 Devereux about mines, or Grinnell and Dellenbauirh 

 about Indians, it could hardly be worth our while 

 to try to find out. 



We were in British waters on June 1st and set 

 foot on British soil at Victoria on the Island of Van- 

 couver. Even the climate is British — mist and a 

 warm slow rain — with dense verdure and thick 

 green turf dotted with the English daisy. Indeed, 

 nature here seems quite as English as does the sober, 

 solidly built town with its fine and imposing Parlia- 



22 



