OUR ALASKAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



CARIBOU HUNTING IN THE CASSIAR. 



A. J. STONE. 



Before beginning this journey I had be- 

 come reasonably familiar with the mam- 

 malia of the Rocky mountains in the United 

 States and British America, and of our 

 Eastern and Western coasts. But what the 

 mountains of the far North might still hold 

 hidden within their dark recesses; what 

 secrets unrevealed might still lie in the 

 country West of them was another mat- 

 ter. 



The route I had selected passed through 



trates the timber in summer or fall and 

 rarely in winter, only in cases of continued 

 storms. He inhabits much the same kind 

 of country as the sheep, sometimes going 

 lower than he into the high valleys, but 

 declining to follow him to his highest feed- 

 ing grounds. I have trailed the caribou on 

 the crests of high, rocky ridges where one 

 would scarce expect them to find safe foot- 

 ing, and have found them feeding near a 

 band of sheep, the latter nibbling the slen- 



PHOTO BY A. J. SI ONE. 



MY CAMP AT THE MOUTH OF THE LIARD 



these mountains from West to East about 

 61 ° N., and from East to West about 6j° 

 N., and allowed me to penetrate them be- 

 tween 64 and 65 N., and finally to traverse 

 their most Northerly stretches, off the 

 mouth of the Mackenzie. Therefore I 

 should be able to procure desirable speci- 

 mens, and to locate geographically the 

 many interesting families in this region. 



The habitat of the caribou in the Cassiar 

 region is entirely different from that of his 

 woodland cousin, and his weight about 

 twice as great. His range is in high land 

 almost free from timber. He never pene- 



der grass which grew among the moss, the 

 former feeding on the moss itself. 



The females climb well into the moun- 

 tains early in the spring to bring forth 

 their young in seclusion; the males follow 

 the snow line back and remain there until 

 the approach of winter drives them down 

 once more to the high bald knobs. 



The calf grows rapidly. It is dropped 

 late in May or early in June. A specimen 

 taken late in September measured as fol- 

 lows: Length, 59 inches; height at shoul- 

 ders, 39 inches, appearing larger than a 

 full-grown Virginia deer. 



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