112 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



he personally knows, only two goats have been shot from 

 above. 



Personally I know not how wary goats are in coun- 

 tries wherein they have been much hunted; for the goats 

 of Elk River actually did not know the significance of 

 the report of fire-arms! This is not necessarily stupidity. 

 Even wolves are " tame " in the far north, where C. J. 

 Jones fought them, and take risks which any southern 

 wolf would regard as suicidal. It takes a little time for 

 a wild species to learn what it is to be shot, and to flee 

 quickly and far from the presence of man. 



I regard the primitive mountain goat as an animal 

 to whom fear is almost an unknown sensation. He is 

 serenely indifferent to the dangers of crag-climbing and 

 ledge-walking, and to him a five-hundred-foot precipice 

 is no more than a sidewalk to a domestic goat. So long 

 as he has six inches of rough points on which to plant 

 his rubber-like hoofs, he considers the route practicable. 

 Why, then, he would say, should he be timid about a 

 few strange animals which walk upright, but never dare 

 to meet him face to face on the walls? Why should he 

 jump and tremble because he hears a loud noise, like 

 the bang of a big rock falling a hijndred feet and ex- 

 ploding on the slide-rock? Among men, the peace- 

 fully minded gentleman naturally assumes that no 

 one will wantonly insult or attack him; therefore 

 he regards his fellows with calmness and serenity, un- 

 armed. The mountain goat has practically no enemies 

 save men and eagles. The grizzly bear knows that 

 Oreamnos is not for him, and for good and sufficient 



