146 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



Turning to the left, I climbed to the top and went in 

 the direction where the cow caribou and her calf had last 

 been seen earlier in the day. Numerous large flocks of 

 ptarmigan were flying about, and soon the cow and calf 

 were seen feeding on the flat top. As the sun was directly 

 ahead I could not photograph them, even after approach- 

 ing to within seventy-five yards, before the cow saw me. 

 To have circled would have brought me in an unfavor- 

 able wind. The cow looked at me a moment, and, joined 

 by the calf, trotted twenty-five yards in my direction 

 and both stood looking at me. I advanced again and 

 both, moving off a short distance, again stopped and 

 looked. As I came very close, both turned and trotted 

 across the top and disappeared around the slope. It was 

 interesting to observe that the surface where these two 

 caribou had been feeding was completely covered with 

 their tracks in all directions, and if the single trail 

 leading up to the spot had not been clearly visible I should 

 have been deluded into believing that a whole band had 

 been feeding there. I crossed over to the edge of a deep 

 canon which separated the mountain from Plateau Moun- 

 tain, the precipitous slopes of which were directly op- 

 posite, rising six or seven hundred feet higher. 



High above, near the top, my eyes caught a large, 

 dark animal moving along the side, and a look through 

 my field-glasses revealed a bull moose with the right 

 antler well developed, the left broken entirely off at the 

 base. An unusual sight it was to see that bull moose 

 slowly walking, often stopping to look about, just below 

 the crest of the massive dome-shaped mountain, usurping 



