332 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



The story is in two parts, — the first, an account of the failure 

 to make the ascent in 1903, and the second the narrative of the 

 ultimate success in 1906. As Dr. Cook details the difficulties of the 

 approach to Mt. McKinley during the first expedition, our appre- 

 ciation of the magnitude of the undertaking increases. The 

 peculiar feature of a walking trip in that land of glaciers and 

 swamps is that traveling is largely aquatic. In the author's own 

 phrase, such mountaineering is "Amphibious climbing." Certain 

 it is that men and horses were tried to the limit of endurance 

 by their inequaHty with the innumerable glacial rivers. Dr. Cook's 

 enthusiasm is the indispensable factor in this struggle with the 

 wilderness. This enthusiasm speaks in the vividness with which 

 the author pictures his experiences, in the forward rush and 

 sweep of the narrative, in the style which has the carrying power 

 of a glacial river, swift, compelling, and, we must confess, too 

 often turgid. Without this enthusiasm no one would have faced 

 a second time the difficulties of the ascent. And we find Dr. 

 Cook entering upon the second expedition with the spirit of con- 

 quest. He takes us a second time into the realm of the Norse 

 gods, and he shows us how indomitable courage triumphed, and 

 two men succeeded in making the ascent in defiance of the whole 

 hierarchy of frost and fire. It seems fitting that the first ascent 

 of Mt. McKinley should have been made by Americans. 



Typographically the work is pleasing. The listing of maps 

 with numerous more or less important illustrations is a mistake, 

 as one may very easily overlook the indispensable map of the 

 McKinley region until he has read the first half of the book. 



Four appendices, containing maps showing the distribution of 

 minerals, timber, and game, and the railway routes, and other 

 information concerning Alaska, add to the value of the volume. 



M. J. C. 



* To the Top of the Continent; Discovery, Exploration, and Adventure 

 in Sub- Arctic Alaska. By Frederick A. Cook. M. D. Doubleday, Page & 

 Company, New York. Pp. 321. $2.50 net. 



