BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA 385 



numbers may be east of the Rockies, they are certainly 

 plentiful enough west of that range. In Cassiar they are very 

 numerous, and along the banks of the Frazer I have in one 

 season (1889) seen one band of seventy, one of sixty, and on 

 another occasion, late in the fall, a friend of mine and myself 

 came upon an immense band feeding in little bunches of 

 fifteen and twenty, aggregating, I should think, at least 150. 

 I did not and could not count them, but should imagine 

 my estimate was absurdly within the limit. M. D. and I took 

 them at first sight for strayed cattle from a neighbouring 

 ranche. Later on we met a portion of this band going uphill, 

 and watched them file past us, within twenty yards of us, each 

 beast coming up on to a little mound immediately below our 

 ambush, pausing for a moment to look downhill, and then 

 making place for the next. In this procession the barren 

 ewes led, the ewes and lambs came next, and the rams brought 

 up the rear, with the biggest ram, for whom we were waiting, 

 last of all. But though the Frazer River country contains 

 plenty of sheep, neither this country nor Alaska seems to 

 produce such fine heads as are found east of the Rockies. 

 A 1 6-inch head (honest measurement) is an exceptionally 

 good head for British Columbia. Let those who doubt this 

 statement tape their trophies and judge for themselves. East 

 of the Rockies larger heads are not uncommon ; the largest 

 of which I have any accurate information having been bought 

 at Morley by my friend Mr. Arnold Pike. This head 

 measured 17*25 ins. round the base of the horn, being, there- 

 fore, considerably bigger than the fine heads exhibited by 

 Messrs. F. Cooper and H. Seton Karr in the American Ex- 

 hibition. The record sheep head, according to Ward's excellent 

 book, is 41 ins. in length and 17} in circumference. 



Of course, there are stories of heads which measure far 

 more than this of giant heads with two twists to the horns ; 

 but they are never seen, although, like most sportsmen, I have 

 myself once seen a head, which I did not secure, that will haunt 

 me until my shooting days are done. 



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