i6a THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



Such extraordinary vitality is difficult to realize, but 

 it is not peculiar to mountain sheep. It has been 

 my experience that most of our other big game animals 

 have the same vitality as sheep, and exceptional cases like 

 this are not uncommon when the vitals are not immedi- 

 ately reached, or the bones disabled. 



The skin was soon taken off and the meat cut up and 

 carried to the foot of the mountain. It was then dark. 

 Schnabel hung part of it on a tree and I shouldered the 

 rest. We then staggered and stumbled four miles through 

 the woods to camp. 



Johnson and Foley came in later, after having been 

 obliged to make a dangerous mountain descent in the 

 dark. They had emptied their magazines at a band of 

 fifty sheep running at a distance, and had seen several 

 others which they were unable to stalk. At that date 

 rifle sights could not be seen at 5.30 in the afternoon 

 and not until six in the morning. 



October 1 8. The next day was windy and it seemed 

 natural to be again on the tramp to find rams. I climbed 

 the mountains to the north-west of camp, and dense dwarf 

 birch rendered the walking very slow and tedious. I no- 

 ticed a very old moose track and one of caribou. These 

 animals are more abundant to the westward, but very 

 scarce in the district where I was. Conies were abundant 

 high up among the broken rocks and a few marmots were 

 heard. Rabbits were exceedingly abundant and all were 

 then white. No fresh sheep tracks were seen, although I 

 tramped about on the crest and slopes until well into the 

 afternoon. Golden eagles, ravens, and flocks of ptar- 



