In North- West Canada. 109 



mighty sound breaking against the walls of unmeasured ravines 

 ere the full power of those matchless monuments of the old- 

 time war of forces is impressed upon the mind. And then the 

 glory of laying low the game that haunts them. Right well 

 did the Indian hunter know what tested manhood, when first 

 he wrenched the great scimeter-shaped claws from the broad 

 fore-paw of the dead grizzly and strung them around his neck 

 as a token to prove a man. Things have chang-ed with time, 

 the rifle has supplanted the bow, but nothing has supplanted 

 the grizzly ; he is there yet, and king of the wilds, and his 

 claws are yet the proudest ornament the savage can wear, and 

 his skin the most valued trophy of the white sportsman. Up 

 above the grizzly's range are found the white goats and the 

 famous big-horn mountain sheep, both eagerly sought after by 

 sportsmen ; the latter especially, owing to the extreme beauty 

 of their heads. 



" Outside of the bears the sportsman runs little chance of 

 getting into difficulty. True, it is claimed by some that the 

 puma is an ugly customer, writers even go so far as to say 

 that he is more dangerous than even the grizzly, and some- 

 times proves his superiority in a dispute over a carcass. Such 

 statements I believe to be mere rubbish ; for the puma, lithe 

 and powerful though he be, is, to my notion, a great, long- 

 tailed, be-whiskered coward, a bravo of most terrifying ap- 

 pearance, but mighty careful of his handsome skin; in fact, 

 what he is generally termed by the herders and hunters — a big 

 sneak -cat. 



" The handsomest game of the Rockies is, of course, the noble 

 elk, or wapti. Their immense branching antlers and the clean- 

 cut, blood-like appearance of their heads make them particu- 

 larly attractive ornaments for a gentleman sportsman's home, 

 and they are in great demand. The species is now rare in 

 many localities where they formerly abounded, but the}' are 

 still plentiful among the foot hills of the Rockies, and they can 

 also be found in the North- West Territories, and in Manitoba 

 north of Selkirk, and in the Duck and Riding Mountains, and 

 also between Portage la Prairie and Brandon, as already 

 noted. 



