or double the height of the trees themselves. Hundreds of these fire-volumes flaring and flaming in quick succession and sometimes many of them simultaneously, in conjunction with the weird eclipse-like darkness that veiled the heavens, rendered the scene one of awful grandeur never to be forgotten. "So absorbed were we all in the preternatural war of the fiercely contending elements that we forgot our guns, our game and ourselves. * * * * * "The burnt district, after darkness set in, was wild and weird in the extreme. The dry bark to the very tops of the tall trees was on fire and constantly falling off in large flakes, and the air was filled ever and anon with dense showers of golden stars, while the trees in the environs seemed to move about through the fitful shadows like grim brobdignags clad in sheeny armor." Having witnessed many similar conflagrations I am able to say that the subject could scarcely be better treated. Through the courtesy of the author, Dr. H. A. Smith, I have been permitted to insert the following poem, which has no doubt caused many a grim chuckle and scowl of sympathy, too, from the old pioneers of the Northwest: "THE MORTGAGE. "The man who holds a mortgage on my farm And sells me out to gratify his greed, Is shielded by our shyster laws from harm, And ever laud for the dastard deed! Though morally the man is really worse Than if he knocked me down and took my purse; The last would mean, at most, a moment's strife, The first would mean the struggle of a life, And homeless children wailing in the cold, A prey to want and miseries manifold; Then if I loot him of his mangy pup The guardians of the law will lock me up, And jaundiced justice fly into a rage While pampered Piety askance my rags will scan, And Shylock shout, 'Behold a dangerous man!' But notwithstanding want to Heaven cries, And villains masquerade in virtue's guise, And Liberty is moribund or dead-- Except for men who corporations head-- One little consolation still remains, The human race will one day rend its chains." In transcribing Indian myths and religious beliefs, Dr. Smith displays much ability. After having had considerable acquaintance with the native races, he concludes that "Many persons are honestly of the opinion that Indians have no ideas above catching and eating salmon, but if they will lay aside prejudice and converse freely with the more intelligent natives, they will soon find that they reason just as well on all subjects that attract their attention as we do, and being free from pre-conceived opinions, they go directly to the heart of theories and reason both inductively and deductively with surprising clearness and force."