Musk-ox, bison, sheep and goat . emountain sheep in Dakota, and from there tothe Rocky Mountains grew familiar with him;though not so famiUar as to prevent his latermaking a confusion between sheep and goats,which, being handed down, delayed for manyyears a clear knowledge of these animals. Tothis I shall return when goats are in ques-tion. Until very lately, until the eighties, that is tosay, sheep were still to be found in plenty whereMeriwether Lewis found them among the BadLands of Dakota; and they dwelt in most rangesof the Western mountains from Alaska to had not taken to the
Musk-ox, bison, sheep and goat . emountain sheep in Dakota, and from there tothe Rocky Mountains grew familiar with him;though not so famiUar as to prevent his latermaking a confusion between sheep and goats,which, being handed down, delayed for manyyears a clear knowledge of these animals. Tothis I shall return when goats are in ques-tion. Until very lately, until the eighties, that is tosay, sheep were still to be found in plenty whereMeriwether Lewis found them among the BadLands of Dakota; and they dwelt in most rangesof the Western mountains from Alaska to had not taken to the peaks exclusivelythen; the great table-land was high enough forthem. I very well recall a drive in July, 1885,when, from the wagon in which I sat, I saw alittle band of them watching us pass, in a countryof sage-brush and buttes so insignificant as not tofigure as hills upon the map. That was betweenMedicine Bow and the Platte River. To meetthe bighorn there to-day would be a very ex-traordinary circumstance; and as for Dakota,. ALERT—(0w5 stonei) Tbe Mountain Sheep 179 there too has civiHzation arrived; and you willfind divorces commoner than sheep — and lessvaluable. It is Gass whom I have cited above as to thescant likeness between this wild so-called sheepand the usual sheep of our experience; and itwas Gass whose word I remembered this Sun-day morning at Livingston, while I stood takingmy fill of observation. The ram, as his ownerhad assured me, was in all truth quite tyme ;and you could examine him as near as youwished. I took hold of his rope and pulled himto me, and rubbed his nose. Like a sheep ?I have already spoken of his long legs. I nowlooked him over carefully for a sign of anythingin the nature of fleece. There was no hair, in texture not unlike the antelopesand in color not far from that gray we see infishing-line, covered him close and thick. Uponhis neck and shoulders it merged with a verylight reddish brown, and on his rump it becamea patch mu
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