STEEP TRAILS 



and worn out without having run down a 

 single sheep, notwithstanding they ran night 

 and day. On smooth spots, level or ascending, 

 the hounds gained on tlie sheep, but on de- 

 scending ground, and over rough masses of 

 angular rocks they fell hopelessly behind. Only 

 half a dozen sheep were shot as they passed 

 the hunters stationed near their paths circling 

 roiuid the rugged suimnit. The full-grown 

 bucks weigh nearly three hundred and fifty 

 pounds. 



The mule deer are nearly as heavy. Their 

 long, massive ears give them a very striking 

 appearance. One large buck that I measured 

 stood three feet and seven inches liigh at the 

 shoulders, and when the ears were extended 

 horizontally the distance across from tip to 

 tip was two feet and one inch. 



From the Van Bremer ranch the way to the 

 Lava Beds leads down the Bremer Meadows 

 past many a smooth grassy knoll and jutting 

 cliff, along the shore of Lower Klamath Lake, 

 and thence across a few miles of sage plain to 

 the brow of the wall-like bluff of lava four hun- 

 dred and fifty feet above Tule Lake. Here you 

 are looking southeastward, and the Modoc 

 landscape, which at once takes possession of 

 you, lies revealed in front. It is composed of 

 three principal parts; on your left lies the 



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