CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON 117 



the real meaning is arrived at by a consideration of 

 his friendly smile. 



The head was quite perfect from the base of the 

 horn to the very tips, fourteen inches in circumfer- 

 ence at base, thirty-four inches in length, and twenty- 

 three inches wide, closely curled and of perfect sym- 

 metry; the age of the ram was eight years. 



After skinning out the head we packed it down 

 the mountain, sliding and slipping in the drifts, and 

 at the bottom Hoyt left the pack train traveling up 

 the valley and brought a horse for us to use as a 

 ferry in crossing the several branches of the river. 

 Making our crossing, we followed along Dixon's 

 snow trail a number of miles up and camped at noon 

 at the last willow patch in the heart of the range. 

 When I say " we camped," I do not mean that we 

 put up a tent or shelter, as we had no tent and there 

 were no sticks to erect a shelter, but simply mean 

 that this willow patch, at an altitude of fifty-eight 

 hundred feet in a slight hollow, was the place where 

 our horses might feed, and we would gather small 

 sticks for a cook fire, while at night we would spread 

 out our sleeping robes in the snow and use the 

 heavens for a tent. A more beautiful, majestic, and 

 wild panorama never faced a camera than the over- 

 whelming wilderness of towering crystalled white- 

 ness that surrounded us on every side. 



We had lunch at this " camp " and saddling our 

 horses started to plow our way through the snow, 



