rs2 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



to him. He is a grand and noble-looking animal, 

 viewed standing motionless on some jutting crag, 

 or bounding with gigantic springs down a precipice 

 that apparently could not afford a foothold to 

 any living thing. 



Some years ago I doubted the existence of the 

 mountain sheep. I classed him with the Gorgons, 

 dragons, and unicorns. I had read about him in 

 books, but in all my wanderings I had never seen 

 one, not even a stuffed specimen except in the 

 British Museum, and I had some doubts as to 

 whether they were genuine, or had been got up 

 after the manner of Barnum's mermaid ; neither 

 had I come across any reliable man who had killed 

 one. My doubts were, however, at length dis- 

 pelled. One day, while hunting on the plains, the 

 government scout of a neighbouring post told me 

 he was certain that there were big-horns on a 

 certain range of bluffs in Wyoming. I did not 

 believe him in the least, but as a large party of us, 

 including some soldiers, were going through from 

 a post on the railway to one of the forts situated 

 in that territory, and as we should have to pass 

 through the bluffs, we determined to spend a few 

 days there and to prospect for sheep. This same 

 government scout was a considerable villain, and 



