274 THROUGH CANADA 



stimulated their zeal for accumulating skins, and 

 wholesale slaughter was the result. Every hide was 

 bartered, down to that covering the Indian's sleeping 

 child. 



Fearful of the consequences that might ensue when 

 the Indians awoke from their drunken sleep, the cun- 

 ning traders stole ofi* in the dead of night to carry on 

 their nefarious commerce in a more distant camp. 



It would be unjust, however, to saddle the Indian 

 and the vendor with the entire work of extermination. 

 A legalized trade in buffalo hides sprang up. Going 

 back to 1843, the following particulars appear in 

 official reports. "The average annual returns for 

 eight or ten years amounted to 90,000 robes, made up 

 as follows : American Fur Co. 70,000, Hudson Bay 

 Co. 10,000, all other Companies probably 10,000." 



Rifles of large calibre made it possible to stalk 

 the buffalo at a much longer range. A deadly shot 

 under cover has been known to kill the greater part 

 of a herd without moving from his position. The 

 choice meat so easily procured was sold as low as 

 2^d. a pound, for as a rule the hunters encumber 

 themselves with nothing more than the buffalo 

 hams. 



The big-horn sheep, Ovis canadensis, the mai-a- 

 tik of the Crees, are found in the Rocky Mountains 

 from the coast to the Arctic Circle. Protection has 

 been extended to them in the Gold Range in Okana- 

 gan, and on the coast in the Ashnolo Mountains. In 



