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Sierra Club Bulletin. 



progress in that direction, and all that had appealed to 

 the others most strongly was lost on him. Hoxie, Weiss, 

 and I doubtless saw different things in the landscape, for 

 we were trained in diverse schools, but our personal 

 points of view all included the esthetic factor, and that 

 factor lifted us above the plane of petty annoyance into 

 a realm of exalted emotion. We saw what we had eyes 

 to see. Our point of view was the measure of our per- 

 ception and appreciation. 



The principle is a broad one and applicable to life in 

 all its phases, but it is peculiarly true of the traveler; 

 and the temporary sojourner in the Sierra is essentially 

 a traveler. Each member of a Sierra Club outing brings 

 to the mountains a point of view, and by that point of 

 view the quality of his pleasure is controlled. I am not 

 prepared to say that one point of view necessarily yields 

 more pleasure than another, but I believe there is a 

 distinct gain whenever one's personal horizon is enlarged. 

 To one whose main motive is recuperative or vegetative 

 or athletic there is advantage in adding an artistic or 

 social or scientific motive. 



Scientific motives — of which I wish especially to speak 

 — are of two types, endeavor to see and endeavor to 

 explain. One may simply observe and compare the things 

 of Nature, noting their similarities, their differences, and 

 their relations, or one may also seek to discover the 

 causes of their relations. One may note, for example, 

 that there are pines all through the mountains; that they 

 have common characters of leaf and cone, which mark 

 them as pines ; that they differ among themselves in 

 various ways, so that distinct kinds may be recognized; 

 and that each kind is restricted to certain altitudes, so 

 that collectively they make an orderly procession from 

 foothills to timber-line. Or one may seek to discover 

 why there are mounds about the bases of large trees; 

 why there are trout in some streams and not in others; 

 or why a meadow camp is cooler at night than one in a 

 neighboring grove. To pursue such a line of study no 



