264 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



serve a high pic as a problem to be solved, and they proceed to the solu- 

 tion thereof with scarpetti, ropes, ice-axes, and a tremendous amount of 

 faith and courage. Many an exciting incident befalls them. Yet by the 

 constant use of wisdom no mishap must be recounted. Not only do they 

 mount to the summits themselves, but, in spite of the objections of the 

 guides, do they haul up in some miraculous manner a heavy photo- 

 graphic equipment. For this effort the reader may be grateful. The pho- 

 tographic reproductions are among the most remarkable to be found 

 anywhere. The author's style is humorously thrilling — to witness : One 

 day an opposition party was climbing the same peak. There had been 

 an accident among the rivals. Stones drop ominously. A form like a 

 human body comes bouncing downward — bump, bump ! They are hor- 

 rified to see the tell-tale trail of red on the white snow. At their very 

 feet the body ceases to roll, and they recognize a huge ruck-sack with a 

 broken flask of claret ! 



The second part of the book is on "British Crags." The tyro yearn- 

 ing for future success in Switzerland contents himself with sensational 

 winter climbing when his fingers and toes are so frozen he can scarce 

 clutch the tiny footholds and handholds. Next he betakes himself to 

 the less better-known rocks of Wales. To read a list of Welsh proper 

 names is in itself a dangerous excursion filled with pitfalls, crevices, 

 couloirs, escarpments, ledges, slabs, buttresses, and other troubles. Come 

 with me, then, to scale Cwm Cywion, Mynydd-Trwsgwl, Bwlch y Drws 

 y Coet — from all accounts a most imposing group of rocks where one 

 can have climbing equally as thrilling and healthy and thoughtful as any 

 in Switzerland. Lena Redington Carlton 



"Rambles Rambles in the Vaudese Alps consists of a month's climb- 

 IN THE ing, botanically, in the valley of the Rhone at Gryon, not far 

 Vaudese from the famous St. Moritz. The author is most ardent in 

 Alps"* his scientific discoveries. His notes on the flora of the dis- 

 trict and his observations on the habits of plants in general 

 are chiefly of interest to botanists, particularly to English botanists, for 

 his comparisons are ever with the conditions of the same plants as they 

 grow in Britain. Aside from the science of the volume, there are, too, 

 bits of life as seen in Switzerland — descriptions of the chalets with their 

 eave-protected balconies, the flat-chested women and girls, knitting as 

 they tend the family cow, the leaves drying about the doorstep, to be 

 used for lighting winter fires, etc. But the reviewer feels that the sci- 

 entific interest outweighs the travel interest. It would be a charming 

 book to take with one should one be fortunate enough to make the same 

 journey in the cantons of Vaud and Vallais. 



Lena Redington Carlton 



* Rambles in the Vaudese Alps. By F. S. Salisbury. E. P. Dutton & Co., pub- 

 lishers. $1.00 net. 152 pages. Eight full-page illustrations from photographs by 

 Somerville Hastings. 



