to by (/.eorgu Shira^ 



THE SI'XTIXKL JCWH 



After a Inng stalk on all fours the author got within 50 feet. Note the extremely long 

 legs of tlie ewe. Tlie short black horns and white body have led many of the Alaskan miners 

 from the Rocky Mountain States to mistake the ewes of these sheep for white mountain goats 

 (see pages 485 and 4S6). 



Cottonwfiod Creek ran on its short and 

 ra])iil career to Skilak Lake, 3,000 feet 

 below. 



It was lierc that I .Ejot m\' last photo- 

 graphs of rock ptarmigan, and as we 

 clinilied np on the broken mass of rock, 

 littering the ])ass between the cliffs of 

 the divide, I put away the lenses and 

 boxed the camera in case of a fall 

 through sucli insecure footing. Half 

 way through the pass some one noticed 

 seven or eight sheep, almost overhead, 

 h'ing on a narrow ledge, with a peri)en- 

 clicular drop of nearl}' 300 feet bel<.)w 

 them. To tliose who have seen large, 

 wliite gannets, nesting here and there 

 tipon tlie face of a maritime cliff, the re- 

 semblance was a striking one. i'>efore 

 I could get the camera out and arranged, 

 the sheep, noticing that we had st(ipped 

 and were gazing upward, became 

 alarmed, and in a series of awe-inspiring 

 leaps took ledge after ledge until the top 

 was reached, when, getting in line, they 

 all looked over. And that constituted 

 my last but still lingering picture of 

 these .graceful creatures, poised on the 

 highest summit above Skilak Lake. 



Impressed once more with the agility 

 and self-confidence of these nomads of 

 the skies, I asked Tom whether he had 

 ever seen the remains of anv indicating 

 that sometimes life paid the forfeit of a 

 careless gambol or in the des])erate ef- 

 fort to avoid pursuit. Ide rejilied that 

 during nearlv 16 vears in the sheep 

 ranges of Alaska he had never seen a 

 single case of the kind, though several 

 times having found carcasses at the foot 

 of a snow avalanche. 



And then occurred within a few short 

 hours and at the same spot a tragedv 

 constituting a most remarkable sequel to 

 my inquiry. 



After returning to the lake and re- 

 maining over night, Tom and Charlie 

 started back in the morning for the tent 

 and the remainder of our outfit. In 

 passing through the same divide Tom 

 saw, hanging partly over a ledge and 

 midway between top and bottom, the 

 crumpled body of a large, fine ewe, 

 while running about below was a little 

 lamb, which, whimpering and bleating, 

 continued to look up toward the spot no 

 feet could scale. 



490 



