A Lillooet Sheep Hunt. 
Continued from page 8&4. 
1 he next day opened cold and windy. ' Cutler 
and White started for the far end of Shallops, 
which extended in a line' for miles. Shallops 
looked in contour somewhat like a huge fist, 
placed palm down, having a series of peaks like 
knuckles. Our camp was located in the back 
of the wrist below the knuckle of the forefinger, 
and this morning Pat and I started toward the 
peak represented by the first finger knuckle, 
while Cutler and White started off to the place 
which would be represented by the knuckles 
of the third and little fingers. It was about a 
two hours’ climb—2,000 feet—to the top of the 
first finger knuckle of Shallops, and when we 
arrived there we found that on the other side 
great ridges ran out from the peaks like the 
extended fingers of a hand. We sat on the top 
of the first peak and looked down the first ridge 
without seeing any signs of sheep there or in 
any of the country which we could see. We 
then crossed over the first peak and climbed 
slowly around to the top of the second peak 
which was connected with the second long line 
of mountain range and looked like the middle 
finger of the hand. From the top of that peak 
we looked down the next ridge and saw a soli¬ 
tary ram lying down near the end of the ridge 
at about what might be the base of the finger 
nail. 
That ram was in a bad place. It was im¬ 
possible to stalk him in any way except by going 
clear around Shallops and down the ridge Rep¬ 
resented by the first or index finger, and then 
around the base of that in the valley, and climb¬ 
ing the back of the ridge he was on. This in¬ 
volved several hours of the worst kind of walk¬ 
ing, but there was nothing to do but tackle it. 
We went around the peak first climbed and down 
the ridge next to the one the ram was on. We 
kept the ridge between us and the ram all the 
time, of course, going up once or twice to 
see that he had not left his position. The walk¬ 
ing w T as very bad, being loose, sharp rock which 
slipped under us and into which our feet sank 
at every step. At the end of the .ridge we found 
a glacier extending down into the valley, and 
we had to circle this and get to the very bottom 
of the valley in order to cross to the ridge the 
• ram was on. We succeeded, however, by keep¬ 
ing in a gully at the bottom of the peak where 
the ram was lying down, without having exposed 
ourselves. Then we climbed straight up the back 
of the peak. From this side we were not only 
protected from any chance of the ram seeing 
us, but we also had the wind directly from him 
to us. This last climb was about a mile long 
and terribly steep. I was tired when we started 
climbing, and before I got to the top I felt that 
I could never by any chance possibly get back 
to camp. However, I was sustained by the 
thought of a chance for a shot at the top, and 
when we took off our hats and crawled over 
the edge of the rock which overlooked the top 
of the ridge, I forgot that I was tired. But 
there was no ram in sight, and we looked care¬ 
fully all over the top of the ridge to see if he 
could be tying down behind some pile of rocks. 
At last we took to looking around the country 
generally and finally I saw the ram on the sky¬ 
line just crossing over the peak where we had 
started in the morning. He had three ewes with 
him and I suppose that they had seen us and 
had become alarmed and scared him off. It was 
then about 2:30, too late to start another hunt 
that day, and not much more than enough time 
to get back to camp before dark. It was also 
getting colder and windier every minute. We 
started back to Shallops, following the side of 
the ridge in loose rock in which we sank to our 
ankles at each step. I had got to the condition 
where my legs shook under me, and it was all 
I could do to keep from falling. At last we 
reached the lee of the large rock, and sitting 
down, took out the lunch sack and filled up on 
bacon, corn bread, sweet chocolate and whiskey. 
After that I felt considerably better and suc¬ 
ceeded in holding up fairly well while we crossed 
over Shallops and dropped down to camp. 
At camp we found Dick making tea and we 
had about a quart of hot tea apiece, and then 
I went into the tent and lay down until I was 
aroused by hearing Grant shouting outside. I 
ran out and saw him and Cutler coming up the 
trail from Shallops with a big sheep’s head as 
a token of their success. 
Cutler and Grant had a fine day’s hunt. They 
had started up along the side of Shallops to the 
peak which I should describe as the third 
knuckle, and on reaching it had seen a dozen 
ewes and two or three rams feeding in one of 
the small rocky gorges. Grant felt that the 
chances were all in favor of some rams being 
in the neighborhood of this large bunch of ewes 
and they had therefore gradually worked across 
the peak to the edge of the gorge arid down to 
within a hundred yards of the ewes, crawling 
the last hundred yards over stone and rocks with 
the greatest caution. At last getting behind 
some rocks they had examined the ewes and the 
country in great detail without seeing any sign 
of a ram, and decided that if there had ever 
been any rams about they had gone off for the 
present. They therefore started crawling back 
from the ewes so as not to disturb them and had 
gone perhaps a hundred yards along the side of 
the hill, when without the slightest warning a 
huge ram leaped out of a hollow in the rocks 
where he had been tying and started off. Un¬ 
fortunately for him his mind was evidently taken 
up with his harem, for he started diagonally to¬ 
ward Mr. Cutler and Grant in order to get back 
to the ewes. When about a hundred yards away 
he pulled up for a moment and Cutler got him 
in the fore shoulder with the first bullet of the 
Springfield. The ram, hard hit, made two or 
three jumps, when the second bullet struck him 
in the hindquarters, knocking him down. The 
light was good and the ram was tying on the 
snow, and Grant, taking the camera, went up to 
take his picture. 
As Grant approached, the ram again jumped 
to his feet and started off, but this time Cutler 
shot him through the rump, raking him from 
end to end. This time the ram went down for 
good and they took several pictures. He was a 
fine big ram, measuring the same around the 
base as the one I had killed, but with a head 
different in shape. His horns stood straight out 
from the side in a wide sweep instead of curl¬ 
ing closely around his head as in the case of my 
ram. It was very hard to tell which of the two 
heads was best. 
That night we had a cheerful supper, as each 
had got a sheep and we were thoroughly satis¬ 
fied. Furthermore, we had rib roast from my 
ram, which was much better and less strong than 
the liver. This rib roast is called by the Indian 
squellum arfd is simple and nourishing. The 
recipe is as follows: Cut out the whole side of 
an animal, taking the full length of the rib, stick 
it *on a sharp stick and roast on the camp fire, 
then let each man cut off a rib with his hunting 
knife, put his foot on one end and take hold of 
the other end with his teeth. Full satisfaction 
is guaranteed. 
That night Grant White discoursed with us at 
length on the merits of rifles. Both he and 
Cutler were very much pleased over the action 
of the Springfield with which Cutler had never 
killed game before, and Grant had never seen 
one in action. Grant had no use for my gun, 
because I had it fitted with a peep sight instead 
of the open sight that originally came on it. In 
his mind the peep sight was an abomination, and 
every time I hit anything with it, it was almost 
a personal insult. The next morning was an¬ 
other cold, windy day, which began with a piece 
of hard luck. Cutler started to refill his camera. 
In doing this, in some way he exposed and 
ruined the film he was just taking from the 
camera. After that for some minutes the atmos¬ 
phere was hardly similar to that of a prayer 
meeting, Cutler insisting between gasps that it 
was the only sheep he would ever kill on the 
trip and the only picture he would ever have the 
chance to take. However, there was no use cry¬ 
ing over spilt milk, and Cutler and Grant White 
went again to the end of Shallops to try for a 
ram in the country beyond where they had killed 
the ram the day before, while Pat and I went to 
the country beyond where I had killed my 
ram. 
We came as near drawing a blank that day as 
on any during the trip, for all we saw was four 
ewes, evidently old maids, so that we did not 
stop to investigate for a chance of a ram near 
by. About noon we flushed a flock of ptarmigan, 
the only ones I saw on the trip, and as they rose 
and flew away from a snow bank they were on, 
they looked like white doves. 
We covered a circuit of fifteen or twenty 
miles that day and returned to camp about dark. 
Long after darkness had closed in White and 
Cutler stumbled into camp, absolutely done up, 
but with another ram with them, so Cutler now 
had his limit. 
In a valley beyond Shallops where they had 
killed the first ram they saw a ram going up the 
