138 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



BOOK REVIEWS. 



Edited by William Frederic Bade. 



, This little story exhibits at its best the mature 



Stickeen. * literary art of John Muir. It is a leaf from the 

 large book of his experience as an explorer. Even one who has 

 not had first-hand acquaintance with glaciers, forests, and 

 mountains cannot read this story of adventure without a speeding 

 pulse. The setting of the tale could scarcely have been more 

 dramatic. A fierce storm on a great glacier of the Alaskan 

 Fairweather Range, the "ice-cliffs towering above the shrinking 

 forest," an exploratory excursion over the ice-falls, the barrier 

 of an abysmal crevasse encountered at night-fall in returning, 

 the perilous crossing by an ice-bridge — these are materials worthy 

 of Muir's pen. The only actors in the drama are John Muir and 

 Stickeen. The latter is a dog, named for an Alaskan tribe of 

 Indians. Odd, independent, reserved on ordinary occasions, the 

 presence of an awful danger suddenly brings to the surface un- 

 suspected sagacity and emotion. "Who could have suspected the 

 capacity of this dull, enduring little fellow for all that most stirs 

 our mortal frame?" It is safe to say that henceforward Stickeen 

 ranks among the immortals. The many thousands who now 

 hail with joy the too infrequent products of John Muir's pen, 

 will place this sketch beside the water-ouzel as one of the finest 

 of his animal portraits. No better recommendation could be 

 given. W. F. B. 



^ Enos A. Mills is a naturalist and a moun- 



tain climber who dedicates his book, 

 RocKiES."t u^ji^ L-^g tj^g Rockies," to John 



Muir. This book contains the record of many long rambles 

 among the mountains, especially in winter, when the deep snow 

 and the intense cold added a spice of danger to his experiences. 

 He carried no firearms and no food, except a few raisins, yet he 

 gives the story of several experiences far above the snow-line in 

 great storms, when only constant movement and skill in traveling 

 on snowshoes saved him from death. For three years he was the 

 State Snow Observer in Colorado, scaling many of the highest 



* Stickeen. By John Muir. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1909. Narrow 12 

 mo. 60 cents net. 



t Wild Life on the Rockies. By Ends A. Mills, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 

 publishers, Boston. $1.75 net. 



