o Elliot, In Memoriath : Elliott Coues. y" 



of the subject under consideration caused their opinion to be of 

 special value. This extreme sensitiveness is best illustrated by 

 an act committed in his youthful days, when after having labored 

 for several years upon a work on Arizona, on reading his manu- 

 script to one, who, if not competent to judge of the importance 

 of his labors, he had the right to expect would exhibit sympathy 

 for his efforts, and who must at least have been impressed with 

 its thoroughness and beauty of diction, yet, was only able to con- 

 sider its value as a commercial asset and therefore commented 

 upon it so unfavorably and with such strength of expression, that, 

 utterly disheartened at the want of appreciation for that which 

 had been so long a labor of love and of which he was so proud of 

 his ability to produce, on the impulse of the moment he cast the 

 ' copy ' into the fire where it was consumed, and then suffered a 

 severe attack of illness in consequence of his loss by his hasty act. 

 Of a most affectionate disposition he sought and enjoyed the 

 society of his friends and those with sympathetic tastes, and 

 although he possessed strong convictions and firm opinions, yet 

 no one more readily yielded to the views of another whose oppor- 

 tunities to reach a correct decision had been greater than his own, 

 and this was always effected with a courtesy that caused his 

 friendly opponent to regret he could not himself yield and reverse 

 their positions. He loved science and scientific work and scorned 

 to employ his talents and his knowledge merely for financial con- 

 siderations, and although he could command large sums for his 

 labor, he preferred to devote himself to pure science which, if less 

 remunerative pecuniarily, achieves a more lasting result, and one 

 of greater honor. 



After all these years of scientific work his thoughts and labors 

 turned to a new channel, that of historical research, and the last 

 eight or ten years of his life were devoted to editing the journals 

 of the early explorers of our continent, and he made many long 

 and wearisome journeys over the various routes taken by these 

 hardy pioneers in order to familiarize himself with the country 

 traversed and locate the many places mentioned, but which had 

 no designation on any published map. His former army life and 

 his great experience as a naturalist eminently fitted him for this 

 tisk, and probably no one could have proved himself so compe- 



