ON THE PRAIK 163 



horn range before; so that our hunting trip 

 had the added zest of being also an explor- 

 ing expedition. 



Each of us rode one pony, and the packs 

 were carried on four others. We were not 

 burdened by much baggage. Having no 

 tent we took the canvas wagon sheet in- 

 stead; our bedding, plenty of spare car- 

 tridges, some flour, bacon, coffee, sugar and 

 salt, and a few very primitive cooking uten- 

 sils, completed the outfit. 



The Bighorn range is a chain of bare, 

 rocky peaks stretching lengthwise along the 

 middle of a table-land which is about thirty 

 miles wide. At its edges this table-land 

 falls sheer off into the rolling plains coun- 

 try. From the rocky peaks flow rapid 

 brooks of clear, icy water, which take their 

 way through deep gorges that they have 

 channelled out in the surface of the plateau ; 

 a few miles from the heads of the streams 

 these gorges become regular canyons, with 

 sides so steep as to be. almost perpendicular ; 

 in travelling, therefore, the trail has to keep 



