THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT. 387 



cautiously, halt frequently if he thinks he is seen, make as 

 little noise as possible, and use every available cover pre- 

 sented by rock or shrub. My first introduction to this 

 mountain sprite was in Washington Territory, and that 

 taught me that the tales related by hunters of the difficulty 

 of killing it were little exaggerated. 



I joined a party of Indians that were moving into the 

 eastern division of the Territory, their chief having kindly, 

 consented to let me accompany them, on the ground that I 

 sympathized with the creed which they had been taught 

 by a self-denying Christian missionary. Our route led us 

 through those dense forests that cover an area of nearly 

 seventy thousand square miles of Oregon and the region 

 mentioned, and grand and gloomy they seemed in their 

 silence and magnificence. We followed a trail known only, 

 so far as I could learn, to the red men, and this led us away 

 from all vestiges of civilization, for not a house or a white 

 man did we see until we entered the great plains of Eastern 

 Washington. 



We moved onward by easy marches, halting for a day 

 or two to enable the squaws to gather some of the innu- 

 merable berries of many species with which the woods 

 teemed, and to give the men an opportunity of killing 

 game. This, fortunately, was quite plentiful, and the hunt- 

 ing-parties returned each day with a stock of meat which 

 embraced every variety, from the bear and deer to the 

 hare, squirrel, and showtl. 



As we approached the snowy summits of the Cascade 

 Range the forest became less dense, and we caught glimpses 

 of open mountain dells, as picturesque as any the mind 

 could conceive, which were covered with a luxuriant 

 growth of tender grass, green mosses, and dainty sub-al- 

 pine flowers, or we gazed on those stupendous bowlders 

 veritable mountains of bare rocks, which were the haunts 

 of the mountain sheep and goat. 



Having halted one day to have a hunt among these an- 

 imals, I was allotted as a companion a handsome for an 

 Indian young fellow, known to his tribe as Itsoot, or the 



