ii6 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



feet of the edge, they appeared, and, instantly seeing me, 

 stopped to gaze at me. 



My kodak was ready, and after a snapshot was taken 

 I began slowly to approach them. The wind was blow- 

 ing at right angles and evidently carried my scent past 

 them. As I came to within forty or fifty feet, the cow 

 appeared to resent my nearer approach, inclined her ears 

 back, made a slight motion of the lips, and stood in such 

 an attitude of warning that I thought she might possibly 

 charge me. The calf, assuming an attitude of readiness 

 for instant flight, was standing nearer the edge of the 

 slope, its head turned away from me. After taking a 

 nearer snapshot, I determined to walk slowly in a circle 

 for the purpose of testing the effect of coming in the wind, 

 which would give them my scent. Gradually I circled 

 around to the right, and suddenly, as a breeze caught 

 me in the right position, the cow jumped as if receiving 

 an electric shock, and, followed by the calf, went trotting 

 down the slope, to disappear in the timber below. Never 

 was the comparative effect of sight and scent better tested 

 on a cow moose, and in a locality which human beings 

 seldom frequent. 



While retracing my steps, I noticed that the sheep 

 were not in sight, but when climbing the mountain I had 

 descended, the ewe and black lamb suddenly appeared 

 on the crest above, glanced down at me for a moment and 

 then ran off. It was very cold and blowing hard before 

 I reached camp, some time after dark, to learn that Selous 

 had followed tracks of both sheep and caribou without 

 seeing the animals. His sympathy was comforting in our 



