284 ACCESSIBLE FIELD SPORTS. 



I have just returned from a most delightful party, 

 the lion of which was a gentleman who for upwards of 

 ten years had shut himself out of the civilised world, 

 by residing upon one of the numerous lakes of North 

 America, that are situated on the extreme edge of the 

 Rocky Mountains and the barren lands in sixty- four 

 or sixty-five degrees north latitude. Here the musk 

 sheep (for I must call it so) is found occasionally, but 

 when he progressed farther to the north-west it was 

 no uncommon occurrence in a day's march to see 

 several herds ; in fact, they were so numerous that the 

 camp was always well supplied with them for food. 

 Their flesh he pronounces excellent and nutritious 

 when fat, but quite the reverse when, by a long pro- 

 tracted winter, they become thin and attenuated. The 

 flavour is much the same as that of venison, although 

 much coarser in the grain, and is entirely free from 

 any musky odour, except in very old males, and during 

 the rutting season. The ground which they principally 

 frequent is the same on which is found the small 

 cariboo immense stretches of rolling, rocky steppes, 

 most sparsely supplied with vegetation, except where 

 an occasional brook winds its solitary course towards 

 some giant river, rapidly hurrying on its northern 

 course to the Arctic Ocean. Their principal food is 

 the various mosses, the leaves of stunted brush, and 



