Book Reviews. 



245 



in all the world there is no scenery grander than that which he 

 portrays. He is no holiday hunter ... he is as skillful and self- 

 reliant a woodsman and mountaineer as an old-time trapper, and 



he always hunts alone But the most important part of 



Mr. Sheldon's book is that which relates not to hunting but to 

 natural history. No professional biologist has worked out the 

 problems connected with these Northern mountain sheep as he 

 has done, . . . still more notable is his description of the life 

 history of the sheep from the standpoint of its relations with its 

 foes — the wolf, lynx, wolverine, and war eagle. ... In short, 

 this volume is one of the rare volumes which should be in the 

 library of every man who cares for stories of adventure, of every 

 man who cares for natural history and big-game hunting, and, 

 finally, of every man who cares to read of out-door nature in the 

 wilderness, described with truthfulness, with power, and with 

 charm." The book is splendidly illustrated with photographs 

 and drawings. M. R. P. 



"Old Indian The little-known mountain region about the head- 

 Trails." waters of the Saskatchewan and Athabasca Rivers 



is the country traversed by the "Old Indian 

 Trails"* followed by Mrs. Schaffer and her companions. This 

 chronicle of their wanderings during two summers through the 

 heart of the Canadian Rockies is very well written, much of it in 

 an informal, colloquial style well suited to a narrative of the 

 trail. Some good descriptions are to be found in it, and much 

 valuable information concerning trails and camping-places. It is 

 much to be regretted, however, that with so new a field before 

 her, and with the intimate knowledge of the flora of the region 

 that her previous experience must have given her, the author 

 chose to devote so much space to the trivial happenings incident 

 to camp and trail life. Mt. Robson, for example, is dismissed in 

 a paragraph, while pages are devoted to the adventures and 

 idiosyncrasies of the horses of the outfit, matters no doubt of 

 considerable retrospective pleasure to the writer, but of little 

 interest to the reader. Aside from this lack of proportion, the 

 book is most enjoyable. Large, clear type, excellent photographs, 

 and a map add to the volume's attractiveness. The convenient 

 adjustment of the map deserves special mention as it is so ar- 

 ranged that the reader can have it constantly before his eyes, a 

 great advantage in books of this sort where frequent reference 

 to a map adds much to one's enjoyment and comprehension of 

 the scenes described. M. R. P. 



*Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies. By Mary T. S. Schaffer, 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 191 1. 364 pages; 100 illustrations from 

 photographs by the author and by Mary W. Adams, and a map. Price, 

 $2.00 net. 



