The White Goat 241 



than any hair I have seen, and beneath this 

 is the hide thicker than buffalo. If they play 

 games together, it is probably to push each other 

 over a precipice, and the goat that takes longest 

 to walk up again loses the game." 



You can see from these lines what a tide of 

 resentment flows between them. I remember 

 that hard but successful day very well ; and it 

 furnished some facts about size and weight and 

 so on, which were all recorded on the spot, and 

 which give some good details well to know. 



To begin with, there is that " projecting heel of 

 horn " to the goat's hoof. We cannot imagine 

 how he manages to make such a slight thing 

 (not over a quarter of an inch) catch his weight. 

 He weighs anywhere from one hundred and 

 eighty to three hundred pounds. I had no means 

 that day on top of the Cascade Mountains to 

 ascertain how much the male I had killed might 

 weigh, but he was very much of a load for two 

 of us to move. His hide (not the hair but the 

 leather) on his rump was as thick as the sole of 

 my boot. My boot was made for climbing moun- 

 tains, and the sole was filled with hobnails ; the 

 hide was as thick as such a sole, and when bal- 

 anced against things in camp whose weight we 



