40 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



of the creek, which had cut a channel through the snow 

 and ice. 



I had great difficulty in pulling the carcass up on the 

 snow, where I photographed, measured, and gralloched 

 it, pestered by dense clouds of mosquitoes attracted by 

 the blood. I decided to leave the caribou where it was, 

 and bring Rungius back the next day to sketch and 

 study it in the flesh and get the impression of its natural 

 environment. It was a fine large bull, in thick, dark 

 summer-coat, its mane just beginning to turn white; its 

 horns in velvet of a rich, dark, grayish-brown color, well 

 palmated at the ends, with twenty-one points on one side, 

 fourteen on the other, and both brow antlers particularly 

 well developed, giving beauty and proportion to the head. 

 The length of the caribou was seven feet, the height at 

 foreshoulder four feet. These were the first caribou I 

 had ever seen, except a glimpse I had had of four running 

 through the thick woods of New Brunswick in 1897. The 

 caribou of the Ogilvies were later identified by Osgood 

 as the true barren-ground species Rangifer arcticus. 



I continued the ascent on the snow directly up to the 

 crest. Proceeding along the rising rim, I came to the 

 final climb of perhaps five hundred yards, necessary to 

 surmount the peak and command the mountain from 

 above. This was the highest peak on the range border- 

 ing the divide. Its north side consisted of cliffs, preci- 

 pices, and steep slopes falling to a basin below. The 

 top and southern slopes were all broken rock, stained so 

 dark that, from a distance, in contrast to the others of 

 the range, the mountain appeared black. The ascent 



