American Big Game in its Haunts 



dicular precipice of jagged rock falling hundreds 

 of feet. The clouds now lifted a bit and we could 

 see below a vast circular valley with green grass 

 and rapid glacial streams. On all sides it was 

 hemmed in and guarded by mighty mountains with 

 giant cliffs and vast slides of broken rocks reach- 

 ing from the bottom to the very summits. Op- 

 posite was a great dull blue glacier from 

 which the north fork of the Killy River belched 

 forth, while other smaller glaciers and snow 

 banks seemed kept in place only by granite 

 barriers. 



We seated ourselves on the brink of this great 

 cliff and the glasses were at once In use. Soon 

 Hunter saw rams, but they were so far below that 

 even with my powerful binoculars it was Impossi- 

 ble to tell more than that they carried larger heads 

 than other sheep near them. 



It was impossible to descend the cliff at the 

 point where we then were, so we moved around, 

 looking for a place where we might work down, 

 and finally found one where It was possible to 

 descend some fifty yards to a sort of shute. From 

 where we were we could not see whether we should 

 be able to make a still further descent, and if we 

 did go down that far It would be an extremely dlflli- 

 cult climb to get back, but we thought It probable 



i86 



