CLIMBING FOR WHITE SHEEP 227 



ice of the eastern mountain tops, we tried to imagine 

 what this country looked like when it was completely 

 encased in its former glacial ice. That the whole place 

 had been covered by glaciers was evident, not only in the 

 scarred surface of the rocks but also in the contrasting 

 deposits of stone lying about us. Each little hill of the 

 benches on which we had been traveling was capped by 

 a single, large, rounded boulder, exactly balanced on the 

 pinnacle of the summit. These were all of granite, while 

 the composition of the hills beneath them was entirely 

 different. Bill remarked that he had not found any 

 granite outcrops within twenty miles of this place. The 

 ravines between the hills were choked with similar granite 

 boulders which had evidently been brought from a great 

 distance by the prehistoric glaciers. When the long- 

 enduring coating of ice had finally melted and the all- 

 covering glaciers had disappeared, the granite moraines 

 which they had borne upon their surfaces were deposited 

 upon the ground beneath. At least one, of course, rested 

 upon the very summit of each hilltop. The others rolled 

 down the sides and became gradually covered with soil. 

 Of those which still remained, balanced upon the points, 

 a comparatively light touch might have sent anyone 

 rolling dowD. to a more stable resting place. But no 

 such impulse had been given them, and they still 

 remained, precarious tokens of a long-forgotten epoch. 



We decided, if possible, to try to cross the river at 

 the waterfall or just above it and investigate the lone 

 ram on the other side, on the way looking after the three 

 which were lying up near the snow line. In doing 

 this we surprised the two young rams which we had seen 

 crossing the rivier and came over the edge of a cliff upon 

 them at twenty-five or thirty yards distance. Hastily 



