AMONGST THE WILD GOATS OF THE CASCADES. 291 



bear or wolf would be hurled into a mangled carcase 

 on the torrent below if it ventured to attempt to pass ; 

 on this cliff, where all the ospreys on the coast might 

 find separate eyries, a wonderful sight was to be seen. 

 Broken masses of mist from the main body of cloud 

 upon the peaks were drifting across the face of it. 

 My standpoint was on a level with the upper portion 

 which rose immediately opposite. Upon the wild 

 front of this part of the rock's face, scattered in 

 various places, I could count nine wild goats, there 

 being probably many more below which could not be 

 seen, each one followed by a little snow-white kid, 

 gambolling and frisking round her, like white flies 

 upon a wall. The mere idea of being lowered by 

 ropes from the ridge above would almost make a man 

 tremble, but it would be the only manner in which a 

 human being without wings could reach any portion 

 of the cliff. Mothers and young, owing to climbing 

 powers, which appeared to me to exceed those of 

 chamois or ibex, and even those of any of the varieties 

 of wild sheep, were safe from all creatures of prey, 

 except perhaps the eagle, which might have snatched 

 a kid while sweeping by. 



First impressions often convey the truest ideas, and 

 the most exact comparison which could be made, on 

 a smaller scale, and which forced itself upon me, was 

 that of large white larvso upon the side of a stone 

 wall, clinging to the interstices in the mortar. The 

 colour of the animals is pure white, faintly dashed 

 with red, as of tawny or reddish snow. Were it not 



u 2 



