black beard, aquiline nose, or high forehead, and not even his pierc-
ing eyes, but his air of intense energy.

What was the true character, and what the precise training, of
John Charles Frémont as he thus appeared on the Western stage?
He described himself as an officer of topographical engineers. What
was the history of this special corps, and what were its functions?
He obviously had various duties in relation to such a landscape as
we have described. Was he simply to wander through it, take some
random notes on hills and watercourses, jot down the state of the
weather, and camp and cook buffalo meat whenever he felt tired?
If that were so, we might wonder at the fact that his name has
been given to so long and varied a list of places-rivers, peaks,
counties, towns, streets-in the United States. What relation did he
bear to exploring expeditions before him and after him?

The character of John Charles Frémont has been much misappre-
hended. He has usually been described as of a romantic tempera-
ment. But although the romance of his career, with its unending
adventure and wild vicissitudes of golden and leaden fortune, can
hardly be exaggerated, and although the quality of common-sense
tough-minded judgment sometimes deserted him, he was essentially
steady, patient, and industrious. Particularly as an explorer he was
painstaking and persistent. Few men were better inured to drudgery
and hardship. He had dash and brilliance, to be sure, but he made
his way upward in his profession primarily by close application and
sheer toil. Another common misapprehension paints him as flam-
boyant, fond of the dramatic, and eager for publicity. Nothing could
be further from the fact. He was, in reality, a man of quiet, retiring
temper; using few words, and specially averse to talking of him-
self; anxious to play his part, but inclined to underrate his accom-
plishments.

Even that unsympathetic observer Josiah Royce found reserve a
principal characteristic, and speaks of his "gracious and self-pos-
sessed bearing." S. N. Carvalho, the gifted painter, daguerreotypist,
and writer who accompanied him on his fifth expedition, emphasizes
the same trait. "I found him reserved, almost to taciturnity," he
writes, adding later:

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