A GREAT MOUNTAIN SHEEP HUNT 239 



They were situated in a scattered clump of stunted 

 spruces, toward which well-worn goat-trails led from 

 various directions. The earth was sufficiently impreg- 

 nated with mineral salts that the goats and sheep, also, 

 beyond a doubt were very fond of it. 



The animals had dug under the roots of ten or a dozen 

 spruce trees until they were undermined by great cavities, 

 and the large roots, exposed in mid-air, looked like the 

 bodies of boa constrictors and pythons. The rough bark 

 of the spur-roots was covered with fine, soft white hair 

 which plainly told the species of earth-eater most in evi- 

 dence. The goats had worked under the trees because 

 the earth was more moist there, and their mining opera- 

 tions were not disturbed by the sliding snow and rocks 

 that annually assailed the unprotected surfaces of the 

 mountain. The zeal and industry of the animals, and 

 their strength also, was amazingly portrayed. They had 

 dug out and thrown aside quantities of stones, which 

 had rolled down the mountain side, and the whole place 

 looked as disturbed and bare as if it had lately been 

 worked over with mattock and rake.* 



Mr. Phillips's excellent photograph of one of the 

 goat-workings under a spruce tree is shown herewith. 

 These goat-licks are fairly common throughout the moun- 



* In 1902, Messrs. G. O. Shields and W. H. Wright found on the west 

 fork of the north branch of the Athabasca River a goat-lick of still greater pro- 

 portions than those described above. Trails lead to it from a radius of five 

 miles. A cut bank fifteen feet high has been eaten away, until trees and large 

 stones have been undermined and thrown down the mountain-side. A man 

 can ride on horseback behind some of the roots now exposed. The earth is 

 described as a light, chalky clay. 



