326 



tJNITED StAtES. 



His appearance, though rather clumfey, is expres- 

 sive of active strength, and the nimbleness of his 

 DQotion is surprising. He bounds from one rock to 

 another, with as much facility as the goat, and makes 

 his way through places quite impracticable to any 

 other animal in that country without wings. No ani- 

 mal encourages pursuit so much as this. In his flight 

 he frequently turns back, and stares at the hunter 

 with a kind of stupid curiosity, which is often fatal 

 to him. This ought, perhaps, to be afacribed to his 

 ignorance of man; these mountains being so horri« 

 bly desolate that they al^e but little frequented, ex* 

 cept it be by some straggling war parties of the na- 

 tives. ' 



Tiie mountain ram, or sheep, though not very 

 often seen, is to be met with in considerable num- 

 bers, in some parts of the mountains. I have (says 

 Mr, IVPGillivray) on several occasions, seen herds 

 of twenty or thirty, but generally not more than two 

 or three of them together. Frequently I have been 

 entertained with aviev/ of one of them looking over 

 the brink of a precipice several hundred yards above 

 my head, scarcely appearing bigger than a crow, 

 and bidding defiance to all approach. These fright- 

 fal situations are quite natural to them. They run 

 up declivities of hard snow, or roaj^h ice, with faci- 

 lity. Pursuing them in these situations, I have been 

 obliged to cut steps with my knife where they passed 

 without difficulty. Sometimes you think their pro- 

 gress is stopped by a chasm or projecting rock, but 

 if you attempt too near an approach, at one bound 

 ihey are out of your reach. 



