THE HIGHLAND WILDERNESS 171 



which some species are really serious menaces — biting flies 

 and gnats. I merely mean that, unlike so many other 

 tropical regions, this particular region is, from the stand- 

 point of the settler and the ordinary traveller, relatively 

 free from insect pests, and a pleasant place of residence. 

 The original explorer, and to an only less degree the hard- 

 working field naturalist or big-game hunter, have to face 

 these pests, just as they have to face countless risks, hard- 

 ships, and difficulties. This is inherent in their several 

 professions or avocations. Many regions in the United 

 States where life is now absolutely comfortable and easy- 

 going offered most formidable problems to the first explorers 

 a century or two ago. We must not fall into the foolish 

 error of thinking that the first explorers need not suffer 

 terrible hardships, merely because the ordinary travellers, 

 and even the settlers who come after them, do not have 

 to endure such danger, privation, and wearing fatigue — 

 although the first among the genuine settlers also have to 

 undergo exceedingly trying experiences. The early ex- 

 plorers and adventurers make fairly well-beaten trails at 

 heavy cost to themselves. Ordinary travellers, with little 

 discomfort and no danger, can then traverse these trails; 

 but it is incumbent on them neither to boast of their own 

 experiences nor to misjudge the efforts of the pioneers be- 

 cause, thanks to these very efforts, their own lines fall in 

 pleasant places. The ordinary traveller, who never goes 

 off the beaten route and who on this beaten route is car- 

 ried by others, without himself doing anything or risking 

 anything, does not need to show much more initiative and 

 intelligence than an express package. He does nothing; 

 others do all the work, show all the forethought, take all the 



