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! 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 undisturbed 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 Mountain 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,

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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.”

The Rocky Mountain goat wanders over the most precipitous rocks, and springs with great activity from crag to crag, feeding on the plants, grasses, and mosses of the mountain sides, and seldom or never descends to the luxuriant valleys, as the big horn does. This goat, indeed, resembles the wild goat of Europe, or the chamois, in its habits, and is very difficult to procure. Now and then the hunter may observe one browsing on the extreme verge of some perpendicular rock almost directly above him, far beyond gunshot, and entirely out of harm's way. At another time, after fatiguing and hazardous efforts, the hungry marksman may reach a spot from whence his rifle will send a ball into the unsuspecting goat; then slowly he rises from his hands and knees, on which he has been creeping, and the muzzle of his heavy gun is "rested” on a loose stone, be

hind which he has kept his movements from being observed, and now he pulls the fatal trig. ger with deadly aim. The loud, sharp crack of the rifle has hardly rung back in his ear from the surrounding cliffs when he sees the goat, in its expiring struggles, reach the verge of the dizzy height: a moment of suspense and it rolls over, and swiftly falls, striking, perchance, here and there a projecting point, and with the clatter of thousands of small stones set in motion by its rapid passage down the steep slopes which incline outward near the base of the cliff, disappears, enveloped in a cloud of dust in the deep ravine beneath, where a day's journey would hardly bring an active man to it, for far around must be go to accomplish a safe descent, and toilgome and dangerous must be his progress up the gorge within whose dark recesses his game is likely to become the food of the ever prowling wolf or the solitary raven. Indeed, cases have been mentioned to us in which these goats, when shot, fell on to a jutting ledge, and there lay, fifty or a hundred feet below the hunter, in full view, but inaccessible from any point whatever.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, as portions of the mountains are not so precipitous, the Rocky Mountain goat is shot and procured tolerably easily, it is said, by some of the Indian

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tribes, who make various articles of clothing out of its skin, and use its soft, woolly hair for their rude fabrics.

THE BLACK BEAR.

THE black bear, however clumsy in appearance, is active, vigilant, and persevering, possesses great strength, courage, and address, and undergoes with little injury the greatest fatigues and hardships in avoiding the pursuit of the hunter. Like the deer it changes its haunts with the seasons, and for the same reason, viz., the desire of obtaining suitable food, or of retiring to the more inaccessible parts, where it can pass the time in security, unobserved by man, the most dangerous of its enemies.

During the spring months it searches for food in the low rich alluvial lands that border the rivers, or by the margins of such inland lakes as, on account of their small size, are called by us ponds. There it procures abundance of succulent roots and tender juicy plants, upon which it chiefly feeds at that season. During the summer heat, it enters the gloomy swamps, passes much of its time in wallowing in the mud like a hog, and contents itself with crayfish, roots, and nettles, now and then seizing on a pig, or per