264 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



tinue to be sought, everywhere, so long as the law permits 

 the hunting of it. It is the boast of the Stoney Indians, 

 the boldest mountaineers in the Columbian Rockies, 

 that no big game can live in any country which they them- 

 selves inhabit. This is no idle boast, for they are great 

 slaughterers of game. 



While the killing of " hungers " (old rams) will not 

 exterminate a species, there are men who will not always 

 go without fresh meat when ewes and lambs are to be 

 had for the killing. In total number, the sheep of south- 

 ern British Columbia already are down to a very low 

 point. Many an eastern sportsman has gone to that coun- 

 try to kill a big ram, worked hard, spent nearly or quite 

 $1,000, and returned empty handed because of the 

 scarcity of sheep. 



It would indeed be cause for great regret if any com- 

 bination of circumstances should bring about in the splen- 

 did mountain lands of British Columbia, the extinction 

 of the grandest mountain sheep in America. 



