MOUNTAIN GAME. 141 



one mountain spur too many, and entered the 

 ravines of an entirely different watercourse- 

 system. In consequence we became en- 

 tangled in a network of hills and valleys, 

 making circle after circle to find our bear- 

 ings ; and we only reached camp after twelve 

 hours' tiresome tramp without food. 



On another occasion I shot a white goat 

 while it was in a very curious and character- 

 istic attitude. I was hunting, again with an 

 old mountain man as my sole companion, 

 among the high mountains of the Kootenai 

 country, near the border of Montana and 

 British Columbia. We had left our main 

 camp, pitched by the brink of the river, and 

 were .struggling wearily on foot through the 

 tangled forest and over the precipitous mount- 

 ains, carrying on our backs light packs, con- 

 sisting of a little food and two or three in- 

 dispensable utensils, wrapped in our blankets. 

 One day we came to the foot of a great chain 

 of bare rocks, and climbed laboriously to its 

 crest, up cliff after cliff, some of which were 

 almost perpendicular. Swarming round cer- 

 tain of the rock shoulders, crossing an occa- 

 sional sheer chasm, and in many places cling- 

 ing to steep, smooth walls by but slight holds, 

 we reached the top. The climbing at such a 

 height was excessively fatiguing ; moreover, 

 it was in places difficult and even dangerous. 

 Of course it was not to be compared to the 

 ascent of towering, glacier-bearing peaks, 

 such as those of the Selkirks and Alaska, 

 where climbers must be roped to one an- 

 other and carry ice axes. 



Once at the top we walked very cautiously, 



