Читать книгу Percival Lowell — an afterglow - Wrexie Louise Leonard - Страница 10

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As an explorer he stood on the tops of all the mountain peaks that came his way, and equally did he like descending to the abysms of cañons. But, indeed, he did not wait for the mountains to come to him; he sought them in the remotest corners of the earth; going to the sacred mountain of Ontaké in Japan; up the glaciers of the Alps and over the walls and chimneys of the Pyrenees. Speaking of Ontaké and the pilgrim clubs peculiar to it, he said:—

"As the chant swelled it sounded like, and yet unlike, some fine processional of the Church of Rome. And as it rolled along, it touched a chord that waked again the vision of the mountain, and once more before me rose Ontaké, and I saw the long file of pilgrims tramping steadily up the slope.

"Thus, humble though their active members be, the Ontaké pilgrim clubs furnish society not to be found in any other clubs on earth; the company of heaven is to be had for the asking. For the Ontaké pilgrim clubs are the only clubs in the world whose honorary members are, not naval officers, not distinguished foreigners, not princely figureheads, but gods."

The views from mountain summits enraptured him and the zest of the scenes there appealed to him greatly, but withal he was often on botany bent. The planet Mars was the only rival to his

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THE SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS

Which he ascended in quest of trees

​botanical love! Study of the trees was his chief delight in his tramps afield. In a book in manuscript on "Peaks and Plateaux in the Effect on Tree Life," presented to the writer by Dr. Lowell, he shows a deep interest and an unusual knowledge of the subject. This is an account of his ascent of the San Francisco Peaks, of Arizona, in quest of trees. He found them aplenty in the respective zones which he has thus defined:—

Douglas	Fir	at	8700	ft.
Silver	" ?	"	9350	"
Cork	"	"	9480	"

In this charming fashion he describes his original observations:—"From the great height at which it first appeared, from the question mark given the identification at the time, and lastly from the same doubt expressing itself when it was encountered upon the descent upon the face of the mountain, it is probable that the supposed Silver Fir was Cork Fir and it will be provisionally considered. The Cork Fir is a tree of high habit, intermediate between the Fir and Spruce zones though belonging properly to the former. This surprising and truly spectacular Fir is a peculiarity of the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona. Relatively so unknown is it that botanists visiting the region are taken to it at their request as a natural curiosity and it has not yet found its way into the tree books."

It is noteworthy that some trees will bear eternal

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​silent witness to his originality, as his discoveries in this field were various and his nomenclature unique. From the trees on the heights he characteristically jumped to the flora on the table-land below as he himself beautifully expresses on the opposite page. He found a new Ash-tree in a canon in Arizona which will bear his name.^[1]

In all parts of the world, nature touched him alike from the Peaks of Arizona to the Woods of Fontainebleau and the plum-trees of Korea.

In prose writing he excelled. In poetry he at times was touched with the Divine fire. The following is a sparkling gem of that which even great poets might be proud to say "this is mine own." It is poetry of a high order. It follows the established rules of rhythm and rhyme and attains its object in the loveliest and simplest measures. It will serve to show one of the varied moods that went to make up the mentality and spiritual essence of Dr. Lowell.

"In Fontainebleau, whence now the light of day

Is shut by oaks, vast glaciers once held sway,

In undisputed ice their lateral moraines

With grasping fingers stretched to clutch the plains.

Gone all are now, their very memory sleeps

Save for the vigil one poor mourner keeps,

The falling teardrop of the 'rock that weeps.'"

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