The mountains of California . t, as if that were theregular thing with them. What! said I, jumped 150 feet i3erpendicular!Did you see them do it f No, he replied, I did nt see them goingdown, for I was behind them; but I saw them gooff over the brink, and then I went below and foundtheir tracks where they struck on the loose rub-bish at the bottom. They just sailed right off, and THE WILD SHEEP 319 landed on their feetright side up. Thatis the kind of animaltliey is—beats any-thing else that goeson four legs. On another occa-sion, a flock that waspursued by huntersretreated to anotherportion o
The mountains of California . t, as if that were theregular thing with them. What! said I, jumped 150 feet i3erpendicular!Did you see them do it f No, he replied, I did nt see them goingdown, for I was behind them; but I saw them gooff over the brink, and then I went below and foundtheir tracks where they struck on the loose rub-bish at the bottom. They just sailed right off, and THE WILD SHEEP 319 landed on their feetright side up. Thatis the kind of animaltliey is—beats any-thing else that goeson four legs. On another occa-sion, a flock that waspursued by huntersretreated to anotherportion of this samecliff where it is stillhigher, and, on being-followed, they wereseen jumping downin perfect order, onebehind another, bytwo men who hap-pened to be chop-ping where they hada fair view of themand could watchtheir progress fromtop to bottom ofthe precipice. Bothewes and rams madethe frightful descentwithoutevincinganyextraordinary con-cern, hugging therock closely, andcon-trolling the velocityof their half falling,. WILD SHEEP JUMPING OVEK A PRECIPICE. 320 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA half leaping nioyements l>y striking at short in-tervals and holding back with their cushioned,rubber feet upon small ledges and roughened in-clines until near the bottom, when they sailed offinto the free air and alighted on their feet, butwith their bodies so nearly in a vertical positionthat they apj)eared to be diving. It appears, therefore, that the methods of thiswild mountaineering become clearly comprehensi-ble as soon as w^e make ourselves acquainted withthe rocks, and the kind of feet and muscles broughtto bear upon them. The Modoc and Pah Ute Indians are, or ratherhave been, the most successful hunters of the wildsheep in the regions that have come under my ownobservation. I have seen large numbers of headsand horns in the caves of Mount Shasta and theModoc lava-beds, where the Indians had been feast-ing in stormy weather; also in the canons of theSierra opposite Owens Vall
Size: 1019px × 2453px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcaliforniadescriptio
