190 ROCK WHISTLER. 
bighorn is also found on the middle and upper 
ridges of the Cascades. 
Tue Hoary Marmor (Arctomys okanaganus); 
or, as styled by the fur-traders, the ‘ Rock 
Whistler,’ lives on the very summit of the Rocky 
Mountains. 
If there is a spot on the face of the globe 
more dismal, solitary, inhospitable, and unin- 
viting than another, that spot is where this most 
accomplished siffleur resides; and it is not by 
any means a matter to be wondered at, that 
so very little is to be found, in works on Natural 
History, relating to this little anchorite’s habits. 
My purpose being to climb the craggy ascent 
that led up to the watershed—not by any 
means a dangerous thing to do; it was simply 
leg-aching, tiresome, scrambling work. The 
grass being dry, it polished the soles of my 
mocassins, until they became like burnished 
metal; so that progression, up the long green 
slopes, was much the same as it would have been 
up an ice-slant, with skates on. I got up at last, 
and, feeling somewhat fagged, seated myself on a 
flat rock, unslung my gun, lighted my pipe, and 
had a good look at everything round about me. 
The sun had crept steadily up unto the clear 
sky, unflecked by a single cloud; the mists, that 
