THE COUNTRY OF THE BLACK SHEEP 



BY B. H. BROWNE 



With drawings made from Held sketches by the writer 



WO years ago I fol- 

 lowed up one of the 

 great rivers which, 

 rising in the moun- 

 tains of British Col- 

 umbia, break their 

 way through the 

 Alaskan Coast 

 range and flow into 

 the Pacific Ocean. 

 Every beach, rapid 

 and sand bar of that 

 mighty stream is shadowed by frown- 

 ing mountains ; everywhere the ever- 

 lasting snow ; and he who would add 

 to his hunter's laurels must "track" 

 his canoe one hundred and fifty miles 

 into those rugged ranges before he 

 reaches the country of the black sheep. 

 It was not as a hunter but as one of 

 a party collecting mammals for the 

 American Museum of Natural History 

 that I was in the mountains. In this 

 way I not only saw the Ovis stonei, but 

 traveled many miles of its range. 



Besides the mountain sheep we se- 

 cured nine specimens of the Rangifer 

 osborni, a magnificent woodland cari- 

 bou at that time new to science. We 

 also collected a number of bear, both 

 black and grizzly, moose, goats, wolves, 

 foxes and 1,000 small mammals. Our 

 hunting trips led us from the Iskoot 

 River to the Stikine and Taku Rivers, 

 to the western slope of the Cassiar 

 Mountains and into the Tsi Tshethla 

 and Cheeonee Mountains. 



Our first hunt was in the Cheeonee 

 Mountains, the type locality of the black 

 sheep. From here we traveled north 

 about seventy miles to some unnamed 

 mountains on the Taku head-waters. 

 From the Taku we journeyed to the 

 western slope of the Cassiar Mountains 

 and hunted moose and caribou, and from 

 there we packed our horses ioo miles to 

 the south and hunted sheep on the head- 



waters of the Iskoot River. We also 

 made a short hunt in the Cheeonee 

 Mountains on our return to the Stikine. 



There were four men in our party : 

 Andrew J. Stone, Malcolm P. Ander- 

 son, Denis Stone and I. Mr. Stone is 

 the discoverer of the Ovis stonei and 

 other Alaskan mammals, and was the 

 head of our party. Mr. Anderson 

 trapped small mammals. Denis Stone 

 was a Thaltan native and the best In- 

 dian I have ever known ; he hunted big 

 game. His last name was added by 

 himself, out of respect for Mr. Stone. 

 Before that he was plain Denis. 



For transportation we used three 

 pack-horses and a mule. Denis and I 

 were the car go dors, as packers are 

 called in that country, and we used the 

 aparejo, a form of pack-saddle well 

 suited to heavy loads, in all our packing. 

 We traveled over two hundred miles of 

 rough mountainous country, at times 

 packing 350 pounds to the horse. On 

 some of our trips the country was so 

 rough that we packed our duffle on 

 dogs, carrying about twenty-five pounds 

 on each animal. When camping we 

 turned our horses loose, and a week's 

 liberty made them difficult to catch. 



Our food was most simple, but of the 

 best quality. It consisted, roughly, of 

 flour, beans, bacon and tea. We car- 

 ried no tent; an x8x.i2 fly furnished 

 us with a form of shelter, which, to one 

 who understands its use, is better than 

 a tent. A second fly, 12x8, was used 

 to cover green skins when they were 

 drying. A fly gives more shelter for 

 its weight than a tent, rolls up in a 

 small bundle that can be used for a 

 saddle-blanket, and can be transformed 

 into an excellent boat. 



We carried no stove, but did all our 

 cooking over the open fire. Each man 

 had two double blankets, with a light 

 waterproof cover. This was the only 



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