THE WILD SHEEP OF THE SIERRA. 
7 
die-ground was the snowy fall, the voice and 
soul of the landscape; fringing bushes beat- 
ing time to its thunder-tones, the brave sheep 
in front of it ; their gray forms slightly ob- 
scured in the spray, yet standing out in 
good heavy relief against the close white 
water, — their huge horns rising and curving 
in the midst like the upturned roots of dead 
pine-trees, while the evening sunbeams 
streaming up the canon gilded and glorified 
all. After crossing the river, the dauntless 
climbers, led on by their chief, at once be- 
gan to scale the canon wall, turning now 
right, now left, in long, single file, keeping 
well apart out of one another's way, and 
leaping in regular succession from crag to 
crag, now ascending slippery dome-curves, 
now walking leisurely along the edges of 
precipices, stopping, at times, to gaze down 
at me from some flat-topped rock, with 
heads held aslant, as if curious to learn what 
I thought about it, or whether I was likely to 
follow them. After reaching the top of the 
wall, which, at this place, is somewhere be- 
tween one thousand five hundred, and two 
thousand feet high, they were still visible 
against the sky as they lingered, looking 
down in groups of two or three, giving rare 
animation to the wilderness. . 
Throughout the entire ascent they did 
not make a single awkward step, or an un- 
successful effort of any kind. I have fre- 
■ quently seen tame sheep in mountains jump 
upon a sloping rock-surface, hold on tremu- 
lously a few seconds, and fall back baffled 
and irresolute. But in the most trying 
situations, where the shghtest want or in- j 
accuracy would have resulted in destruction, j 
these always seemed to move in comfortable I 
rehance on their strength and skill, the limits 
of which they never appeared to know. 
Moreover, each one of the flock, while follow- 
ing the guidance of the most experienced, yet 
climbed with intelligent independence as a 
• perfect individual, capable of separate exist- 
ence whenever it should wish or be compelled 
to withdraw from the little clan. The do- 
mestic sheep, on the contrary, is only a 
fraction of an animal, a whole flock being 
required to form an individual, just as nu- 
merous florets are required to make one 
complete sunflower. 
Those shepherds who, in summer, drive 
their flocks to the mountain pastures, and, 
while watching them night and day, have 
seen them torn to pieces by bears, disinte- 
grated by storms, and scattered diverse like 
wind-driven chaff, wiU, in some measure, j 
be able to appreciate the self-reliance and I 
strength and noble individuality of nature's 
sheep. 
Like the Alp-climbing ibex of Europe, 
our mountaineer is said to plunge headlong 
down the faces of sheer precipices and 
alight on his big horns. I know only two 
hunters who claim to have actually wit- 
nessed this feat. I never was so fortunate. 
They describe the act as a diving head-fore- 
most. The horns are so large at the base 
that they cover all the upper portion of the 
head down nearly to a level with the eyes, 
and the skull is exceedingly strong. 1 
struck an old, bleached specimen on Mount 
Ritter a dozen blows with my ice-ax with- 
out breaking it. Such skulls would not 
fracture very readily by the wildest rock- 
diving, but other bones could hardly be 
expected to hold together in such a per- 
formance; and the mechanical difficulties 
in the way of controlling their movements, 
after striking upon an irregular surface, are, 
in themselves, sufficient to show this bowl- 
der-like method of progression to be impos- 
sible, even in the absence of all other 
evidence on the subject; moreover, the 
ewes follow wherever the rams may lead, 
and their horns are mere spikes. I have 
found many pairs of horns considerably 
battered — a result, most likely, of fighting, 
though, when a great leap is made, they 
may possibly seek to lighten the shock by 
striking their heads against anything that 
may chance to be favorably situated for the 
purpose, just as men mountaineers do with 
their hands. I have been interested in the 
question, after witnessing the performances 
of the San Joaquin band upon the glaciated 
rocks at the foot of the falls, and as soon as 
I procured specimens and examined their 
feet, all the mystery disappeared. The 
secret, considered in connection with ex- 
ceptionally strong muscles, is simply this : 
the wide posterior portion of the bottom 
of the foot, instead of wearing down and 
becoming flat and hard, like the feet of 
tame sheep and horses, bulges out in a soft, 
rubber-like pad or cushion, which not only 
grips and holds well on smooth rocks, but 
fits into small cavities, and down upon or 
against slight protuberances. Even the 
hardest portions of the edge of the hoof 
are comparatively soft and elastic ; further- 
more, the toes admit of an extraordinary 
amount of both lateral and vertical motion, 
allowing the foot to accommodate itself 
still more perfectly to the irregularities of 
rock surfaces, and at the same time increas- 
ing the gripping power. 
