IN THE ALASKA-YUKON GAMELANDS 



which, on our inward trip, we had made such a 

 mess in shooting at the two lambs recorded in 

 an earlier chapter. We climbed this ridge, as it 

 led up to the rim of our goal, and when about 

 half-way up we saw seven sheep on the opposite 

 side of the ridge. They proved to be young rams 

 and ewes, so we left them undisturbed. 



We finally reached the summit, 2,500 feet 

 higher than our siwash camp, and continued 

 to follow around the semi-circular rim. Soon we 

 reached a point from which we saw sheep with 

 the glasses about three miles away and far below 

 us on the opposite side of the mountain from 

 camp. As we neared the precipice of the sum- 

 mit we detected other scattering bands below us, 

 until finally the slopes of that mountain for a 

 square mile or two were dotted with white 

 specks. We stood at one point and counted 

 eighty-eight ewes and lambs, but not a ram 

 seemed to be in evidence. They were peacefully 

 feeding, or lying down, in bunches of twos, threes 

 and up to ten, with here and there a single sheep. 



We nearly frightened a little lamb to death. 

 It was first seen at about fifty feet below us, and 

 we, being unobserved, were able to come on it 

 rather suddenly. When we showed ourselves 

 a swooping eagle from the skies could not have 

 had a more demoralizing effect on that young 

 sheep. It simply tumbled all over itself getting 

 to its mother. The very small proportionate 

 number of lambs seen before us (not nearly as 



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