SEARCHING FOR RAMS 61 



the snow-bank and nearby had seen some caribou cows 

 and calves. Rungius continued sketching the ram that 

 I had killed. By a system of ropes, suspended from a 

 cross-pole, it had been held in a natural position and had 

 been stuffed with grass to give a normal size to the belly. 

 After several pencil drawings Rungius made a color 

 sketch to record the stained color of the pelage. 



Soon after noon, I started for the mountain to look for 

 the ram which had been wounded two days before. 

 Reaching the edge of the basin, where I could plainly see 

 the country, no sign of him was visible about the slope 

 where he had been last seen; nor, after reaching the 

 point where he had lain down, could I find any trace of 

 him. I then turned back toward camp, descending to the 

 divide down the bed of a stream which flows through a 

 deep gorge. Just before entering the canon I saw a 

 ewe and lamb standing not far above, looking at me. 

 The ewe was in an alert attitude, with one foreleg raised 

 and curved. At short intervals she would strike her 

 horns to the ground or jump and stamp with her feet and 

 shake her head, tormented by the mosquitoes. Many 

 times I saw sheep act in this way, a sure sign that mos- 

 quitoes worried them, particularly about the lips, eyes, 

 and ears. The canon proved to be so precipitous that 

 it became a difficult and dangerous task to descend it. 

 It was necessary to cross and recross the dashing stream, 

 walk down slippery snow-banks, work down bluffs, and 

 often make a detour around the heads of tributary gorges. 

 It is not wise to attempt a descent through unknown 

 gorges, and I determined not to try it again. From one 



