344 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



animals on the North American Continent of which, having 

 regard to its distribution and relative abundance, so little 

 is known as of the Kocky Mountain Goat. 



This animal is known also by the different names of 

 White Goat, Antelope Goat, and, to the Indians of the 

 Northwest Coast, as Sheep. The fleece is clipped from 

 the dry skins by these Indians, and the wool and long hair 

 connected together, and twisted into a coarse yarn by roll- 

 ing between the hand and bare leg of the operator — this 

 work being done by the women. The yarn is then woven into 

 blankets, on the most primitive sort of loom, consisting of 

 two upright posts, connected by two cross-bars, over which 

 the warp is stretched, when the weft is passed over and 

 under with the hand alone. 



The manufacture of these blankets is still practiced by 

 the Indians of the Northwest Coast, but not nearly to such 

 an extent as in former days, being only indulged in by the 

 few who still adhere to primitive customs and those far 

 removed from the settlements; though a few years ago I 

 saw nearly one thousand of these blankets given away at a 

 ' ' potlatch ' ' held by an Indian chief at Burrard Inlet. 



Although, strictly speaking, an animal of the mountain- 

 peaks, I have known Goats to be shot within a few hundred 

 yards of the sea-level, and to be captured while in the act 

 of swimming rivers or wide stretches of salt water. These 

 occurrences, however, are rare, and their wanderings much 

 below the timber-line are, perhaps, more from necessity 

 than choice. Occasionally, the deep snow forces them to 

 quit their lofty haunts in search of more favorable brows- 

 ing-ground in the timber below; and in the early spring, 

 when the snow has melted away from the "slide-patches" 

 on the mountain-sides and along the borders of mountain 

 streams, the Goats wander down to nibble the young grass 

 and weeds which spring up almost immediately with the 

 disappearance of the snow. Again, they frequently migrate, 

 at any time of year, from one mountain to another, or even 

 from one range to another; crossing, of course, in their 

 travels, whatever valleys or lowlands intervene. At such 



