supposed to belong to the Genus Ovis. ) 
which the Indians say lives among the rocks in the mountains ; 
the skin was covered with white hair, the wool long, thick and 
coarse, with long coarse hair on the top of the neck and the 
back, resembling somewhat the bristles of a goat.” Vol. ii. p. 49. 
*¢ The sheep is found in many places, but mostly in the tim- 
bered parts of the rocky mountains. They live in greater numbers 
on the chain of mountains forming the commencement of the 
woody country on the coast, and passing the Columbia be- 
tween the falls-and rapids.” Vol. ii. p. 169. 
The latter passage was written while our travellers wintered 
at the mouth of the Columbia river. But on their return, at 
Brant Island, an Indian ‘* offered two sheep skins for sale : one, 
which was the skin of a full-grown sheep, was as large as that 
of a common deer; the second was smaller, and the head part, 
with the horns remaining, was made into a cap, and highly 
prized as an ornament by the owner. The Clahelellahs informed 
us that the sheep are very abundant on the heights, and among 
the cliffs, of the adjacent mountains ; and that these two had 
been lately killed out of a herd of thirty-six, at no great di- 
stance from the village.” Vol. ii. p. 233. 
“‘ The Indians assert, that there are great numbers of the 
white buffalo, or mountain sheep, on the snowy heights of the 
mountains west of Clark’s river. They generally inhabit the 
rocky and most inaccessible parts of the mountain, but, as they 
are not fleet, are easily killed by the hunters,” Vol. ii. p. 33). 
In the above passages, we are made acquainted with the im- 
portant fact, that besides the Argali or big-horned sheep, we 
have anotheF species in North America of the genus Ovis. The 
smaller of the two skins, which the Indian offered to sale at 
Brant Island, was purchased by Capt. Lewis, and was presented 
by him to the museum of Philadelphia. It is undoubtedly the 
skin of a young animal: it measures three feet from the inser- 
tion of the tail to the neck, its breadth is twenty-six inches; 
the tail is short, but it was probably not skinned to the end ; 
along the back there runs a ridge of coarse hair, about three 
inches in length, and bristled up in the manner of that of the 
common goat ; this ridge is continued up the neck, forming a 
kind of mane, and is thicker, coarser, and longer there than that 
of the back; the whole of the skin is closely covered with short 
wool, of an extreme fineness, surpassing in this quality that of . 
any breed with which I am acquainted, not excepting the wool 
‘of the Merino lamb—a coat of hair conceals this wool, but on 
dividing the former with the hands, the latter lies so thick that 
‘the hairs are scarcely visible: the ears are narrow, and taper to 
a point, they are nearly four inches long; the whole is white ; 
: the 
