68 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEV 



Columbia, and is the highest land on the continent of North 

 America. 



We saw, to-day, a small flock of the hairy slieep of the 

 Rocky Mountains, the big horn of the hunters, [Ovis montana.) 

 We exerted ourselves in vain to shoot them. They darted from 

 us, and hid themselves amongst the inaccessible cliffs, so that 

 none but a chamois hunter might pretend to reach them. 

 Richardson says that he has frequently killed them, but lie 

 admits that it is dangerous and wearisome sport ; and when good 

 beef is to be found upon the plains, men are not anxious to risk 

 their necks for a meal of mutton. 



In the afternoon, one of our men had a somewhat perilous 

 adventure with a grizzly bear. He saw the animal crouching 

 his huge frame in some willows which skirted the river, and 

 approaching on horseback to within twenty yards, fired upon 

 him. The bear was only slightly wounded by the shot, and with 

 a fierce growl of angry malignity, rushed from his cover, and 

 gave chase. The horse happened to be a slow one, and for the 

 distance of a half a mile, the race was hard contested ; the bear 

 frequently approaching so near the terrified animal as to snap at 

 his heels, while the equally terrified rider, — who had lost his hat 

 at the start, — used whip and spur with the most frantic diligence, 

 frequently looking behind, from an influence which he could not 

 resist, at his rugged and determined foe, and shrieking in an 

 agony of fear, " shoot him, shoot him ?" The man, who was 

 one of the greenhorns, happened to be about a mile behind the 

 main body, either from the indolence of his horse, or his own 

 carelessness; but as he approached the party in his desperate 

 flight, and his lugubrious cries reached the ears of the men in 

 front, about a dozen of them rode to his assistance, and soon 

 succeeded in diverting the attention of his pertinacious foe. After 

 he had received the contents of all the guns, he fell, and was soon 

 dispatched. The man rode in among his fellows, pale and 



