Tbe White Goat 257 



place, " in greater numbers on that chain of 

 mountains which forms the commencement of 

 the woody country on the coast and passes the 

 Columbia between the falls and rapids." Accu- 

 rate in everything save the name. 



Next comes the observation (William Dunbar 

 and Dr. Hunter) written on the Columbia River 

 near the Dalles : " We here saw the skin of a 

 mountain sheep, which they say lives among the 

 rocks in the mountains ; the skin was covered 

 with white hair; the wool was long, thick, and 

 coarse, with long, coarse hair on the top of the 

 neck and on the back, resembling somewhat the 

 bristles of a goat." 



This time, you see, they are on the very edge 

 of getting the thing straight. But no ; they 

 recede again, after the following which seems to 

 promise complete clearing up : — 



" A Canadian, who had been much w^ith the 

 Indians to the westward, speaks of a wool-bearing 

 animal larger than a sheep, the wool much mixed 

 with hair, which he had seen in large flocks." 



April ten, 1806, the party is on its return jour- 

 ney. It has successfully wintered on the coast, 

 and has now come up the Columbia again, fifty 

 miles above Vancouver. 



