PLATEAU MOUNTAIN 147 



the territory of sheep, caribou, and the grizzly bear! He 

 continued to travel until appearing like a black speck in 

 the glittering snow before he disappeared from sight. 



Turning my field-glasses toward the slope across the 

 canon, a bull moose suddenly appeared directly opposite 

 me, lying down a hundred feet above the timber. He 

 seemed half-buried in the snow, and his chin was resting 

 on it, while his small horns reached well up above the 

 body. To the naked eye, in his resting attitude, about 

 three hundred yards distant, he looked like a large bush, 

 his horns appearing like the tops of willows and complet- 

 ing the resemblance. He was resting on an incline so 

 steep that it was impossible to approach noiselessly from 

 above, and it would have been equally difficult to ap- 

 proach through the woods from below without alarming 

 him. He had chosen a safe spot for undisturbed rest. 

 Taking my birch horn from my rucksack, I gave a low 

 call, but he neither moved nor pricked up his ears. 

 I sounded several more calls, some of them louder, 

 but not the slightest movement did he make. I waited 

 for an hour, calling at intervals, very much interested in 

 watching him, but not once did he show any suspicion of 

 my presence or pay any attention to the noise made 

 through the horn, nor was he alert and watchful. He 

 seemed to sleep until just before dusk, when slowly rising 

 and pushing his forefeet forward, he almost slid down the 

 slope to the timber and was not seen again. 



Some time after dark I reached camp, a few moments 

 before Selous came in. After an arduous tramp all over 

 Plateau Mountain he had not seen fresh tracks of cari- 



