EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 13 



and the slieep, having the body and hair of the first, with the head and 

 horns of the last. It was met with only in the Eocky Mountains, gen- 

 erally frequenting the highest regions producing any vegetation; some- 

 times descending to feed at the bottom of the valleys, from whence, on 

 the least alarm, it retired to the most inaccessible precipices where the 

 hunter could scarcely follow. Though clumsy in appearance it was 

 nimble in action, bounding from one rock to another with as much 

 facility a« the goat, and making its way through places quite imprac- 

 ticable to any other animal in that country not endowed with wings. 

 It seemed to encourage pursuit by frequently halting, sometimes re- 

 tracing a few steps and staring at the hunter with a stupid curiosity 

 that was often fatal to it. The flocks seldom exceeded twenty or thirty 

 animals ; as a rule not more than two or three were seen together. The 

 female does not differ materially from the male, except in being much 

 less in size and having a small black straight horn like the goat. The 

 color and texture of the hair are the same in both, and they are dis- 

 tinguished by the white rump and dark tail. The female greatly re- 

 sembles the domesticated sheep in her general figure, particularly in 

 the timid cast of the countenance. The flesh of the female and of the 

 young male is a great dainty, thought by some to be much more deli- 

 cate than any kind of venison, and regarded by the Indians as the 

 sweetest feast afforded by the forest. 



John Richardson, who described the Ovis montana in 1829, says that 

 it exceeds the Asiatic Argali in size and is much larger than the largest 

 varieties of the domestic breeds. The horns of the male are very 

 large, arise a short way above the eyes, and occupy almost the whole 

 space between the ears, but do not quite touch each other at their 

 bases. They curve first backward, then downward, forward, and up- 

 ward, until they form a complete turn, during the whole course of 

 which they recede from the side of the head in a spiral manner; they 

 diminish rapidly in size toward their points, which are turned upward. 

 At their bases, and, for a considerable portion of their length, they are 

 three-sided, the anterior or upper side being, as it were, thickened, and 

 projected obtusely at the union with the two others. This side is 

 marked by transverse furrows, which are less deep the farther they 

 are from the skull, and towards the tips the horns are rounded and but 

 obscurely wrinkled. The furrows extend to the two other sides of the 

 horn, but are there less distinct. The intervals of the furrows swell 

 out, or are rounded. The ears are of moderate size. The facial line is 

 straight, and the general form of the animal, being intermediate between 

 that of the sheep and stag, is not devoid of elegance. The hair is like 

 that of the reindeer, short, fine, and flexible, in its autumnal growth; 

 but, as the winter advances, it becomes coarse, dry, and brittle, though 

 still soft to the touch; it is necessarily erect at this season, from its 

 extreme closeness. The limbs are covered with shorter hairs. In re- 

 gard to colors, the head, buttock, and posterior part of the abdomen 



