CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON 143 



less tundra-covered mountains, blanketed with snow. 

 While winding around the slopes, we located a band 

 of twenty caribou resting a mile away up on the 

 rounded summit. One of the animals, a small bull, 

 came down to investigate us, and for ten minutes 

 circled around within two hundred yards, alter- 

 nately loping along at an easy trot and stopping to 

 sniff the air. 



These caribou seem to have an intense amount 

 of curiosity and appear to be unafraid at the sight 

 of man, as it has happened a number of times that 

 under the spell of the investigating spirit they have 

 come quite close. It always happened, however, 

 that as soon as they got our wind, they have started 

 off in full flight, and this particular caribou was no 

 exception to the rule; for, after running back and 

 forth along our flank for some time, he nearly circled 

 us, and as soon as he reached the windward his head 

 shot up, as he stopped for a moment with quivering 

 nostrils, and then he dashed in full speed up the 

 mountain. 



About noon we descended somewhat to the edge 

 of timber, where we cooked lunch and decided to 

 camp, as the tundra mountain rose behind us a mile 

 to its highest ridge and then dropped down precipi- 

 tously a number of thousand feet into the broad 

 valley where we would hunt moose. Our high 

 ridge gave us an excellent vantage point not far 

 from our camp, from which to search the valley with 



