130 
ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT. 
Goat ; and lying down, a little removed from the edge of the cliff, we 
have represented another. 
In the vast ranges of wild and desolate heights, alternating with deep 
valleys and tremendous gorges, well named the Rocky mountains, over 
and through which the adventurous trapper makes his way in pursuit of 
the rich fur of the beaver or the hide of the bison, there are scenes which 
the soul must be dull indeed not to admire. In these majestic solitudes 
all is on a scale to awaken the sublimest emotions and fill the heart with 
a consciousness of the infinite Being “ whose temple is all space, whose 
altar earth, sea, skies.” 
Nothing indeed can compare with the sensations induced by a view from 
some lofty peak of these great mountains, for there the imagination may 
wander unfettered, may go back without a check through ages of time to 
the period when an Almighty power upheaved the gigantic masses which 
lie on all sides far beneath and around the beholder, and find no spot upon 
which to arrest the eye as a place where once dwelt man 1 No — we only 
know the Indian as a wanderer, and we cannot say here stood the strong 
fortress, the busy city, or even the humble cot. Nature has here been undis- 
turbed and unsubdued, and our eyes may wander all over the scene to the 
most distant faint blue line on the horizon which encircles us, and forget 
alike the noisy clamour of toiling cities and the sweet and smiling quiet 
of the well cultivated fields, where man has made a “home” and dwelleth 
in peace. But in these regions we may find the savage grizzly bear, the 
huge bison, the elegant and fleet antelope, the large-horned sheep of the 
mountains, and the agile fearless climber of the steeps — the Rocky Moun- 
tain Goat. 
This snow-white and beautiful animal appears to have been first 
described, from skins shown to Lewis and Clark, as “ the Sheep,” in their 
general description of the beasts, birds, and plants found by the party in 
their expedition. They say, “The Sheep is found in many places, but 
mostly in the timbered parts of the Rocky Mountains. They live in 
greater numbers on the chain of mountains forming the commencement of 
the woody country on the coast, and passing the Columbia between the 
falls and the rapids. We have only seen the skins of these animals, which 
the natives dress with the wool, and the blankets which they manufacture 
from the wool. The animal from this evidence appears to be of the size 
of our common sheep, of a white colour. The wool is fine on many parts 
of the body, but in length not equal to that of our domestic sheep. On 
the back, and particularly on the top of the head, this is intermixed with a 
considerable portion of long straight hairs. From the Indian account 
these animals have erect pointed horns.” 
