GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE 



*AIasfca: Volume I, Narrative, Gla- 

 ciers, Natives. By John Burroughs, 

 John Muir, and George Bird Grin- 

 nell. Volume II, History, Geogra- 

 phy, Resources. By William H. 

 Dall, Charles Keeler, Henry Gannett, 

 William H. Brewer, C. Hart Merriam, 

 George Bird Grinnell, and M.Iy. Wash- 

 burn. New York: Doubleday, Page 

 & Company. 1901. [Superimprinted] 

 Harriman Alaska Expedition, with 

 the cooperation of the Washington 

 Academy of Sciences. [Edited by 

 Dr. C. Hart Merriam.] With 39 col- 

 ored plates, 85 photogravure plates, 

 5 maps, and 240 text figures. Pp. 

 xxxvii, 383- $15-00 

 One of the handsomest pieces of book- 

 making ever produced has recently ap- 

 peared in the form of a report on the 

 Harriman Alaska Expedition. The two 

 sumptuous volumes are models in such 

 matters as typography, paper, binding, 

 and the like ; they are unique, at least 

 so far as solid scientific literature is con- 

 cerned, in certain matters of execution, 

 such as the neat loose covers matching 

 the permanent binding ; the numerous 

 color-plates touch a new apex in the 

 triangular ideals of fidelity to nature, 

 strength of expression, and refinement 

 in line and tone ; the photogravures are 

 unexcelled examples of that mode of pic- 

 turing which was last century's richest 

 gift to art, while the text cuts are at 

 once germane, graphic, and artistic. 

 The first impression produced by the 

 book is that it is a thing of beauty. 



The body of the work begins with 

 John Burroughs' narrative of the expe- 

 dition. It is a novel chapter in the his- 

 tory of expeditionary enterprise. The 

 family would go a-touring ; the head 



* "The General Geography of Alaska," by 

 Henry Gannett, one chapter in this remark- 

 able work, was published in full in the May, 

 1901, number of this Magazine. 



thereof would have the tour instructive ; 

 so the family was temporarily enlarged 

 to a ship-load of congenial folk, includ- 

 ing a " scientific party " of 25 eminent 

 savants who were to breathe out the in- 

 struction. Then, to tempt the grave 

 and reverend seigniors, as well as to give 

 zest to the lessons, provision was made 

 for research along new lines — for act- 

 ually augmenting the sum of human 

 knowledge — and a corps of artists, pho- 

 tographers, stenographers, and doctors 

 was added, together with ofiicers and 

 crew of the good ship George IV. Elder. ' 

 The full outfit aggregated 126 persons, 

 with such facilities and supplies that 

 when all was done (with the milch cow 

 left over) and the party debarked, the 

 faithful poet-scribe jotted the feeling 

 that all ' ' had traveled far and fared 

 well" ere he dropped his pen. Yet, 

 before reaching this mild benediction, 

 he drew one of the most telling word 

 pictures of geographic journeying ever 

 done in this land of magnificent dis- 

 tances. The enthusiastic glacialist, 

 John Muir, follows Burroughs with a 

 memoir on "Pacific Coast Glaciers," 

 and the versatile editor of Forest and 

 Stream, Dr. George Bird Grinnell, de- 

 scribes the ' ' Natives of the Alaska Coast 

 Region." Both of these contributions 

 represent the results of previous re- 

 searches, as well as those of observa- 

 tions made during the expedition ; and 

 the legion of new-found and newly 

 christened glaciers receive special atten- 

 tion. The second volume opens with a 

 succinct account of discovery and explo- 

 ration in the territory by the veteran 

 Alaskan, Dr. W. H. Dall ; Dr. Charles 

 Keeler describes the birds, and Prof. 

 Bernard E. Fernow discusses the forests; 

 Henry Gannett follows with a summary 

 of Alaskan geography, already printed 

 in this Magazine, while Prof . William H. 

 Brewer discusses the peculiar atmos- 



