king that in this
situation he can not be seen. The hunter can then approach as close as
he pleases and shoot him down.

THE BIG-HORN.

The big-horn or mountain sheep, which has a body like the deer, with
the head of a sheep, surmounted by an enormous pair of short, heavy
horns, is found throughout the Rocky Mountains, and resorts to the most
inaccessible peaks and to the wildest and least-frequented glens. It
clambers over almost perpendicular cliffs with the greatest ease and
celerity, and skips from rock to rock, cropping the tender herbage that
grows upon them.

It has been supposed by some that this animal leaps down from crag to
crag, lighting upon his horns, as an evidence of which it has been
advanced that the front part of the horns is often much battered. This
I believe to be erroneous, as it is very common to see horns that have
no bruises upon them.

The old mountaineers say they have often seen the bucks engaged in
desperate encounters with their huge horns, which, in striking
together, made loud reports. This will account for the marks sometimes
seen upon them.

The flesh of the big-horn, when fat, is more tender, juicy, and
delicious than that of any other animal I know of, but it is a _bon
bouche_ which will not grace the tables of our city epicures until a
railroad to the Rocky Mountains affords the means of transporting it to
a market a thousand miles distant from its haunts.

In its habits the mountain sheep greatly resembles the chamois of
Switzerland, and it is hunted in the same manner. The hunter traverses
the most inaccessible and broken localities, moving along with great
caution, as the least unusual noise causes them to flit away like a
phantom, and they will be seen no more. The animal is gregarious, but
it is seldom that more than eight or ten are found in a flock. When not
grazing they seek the sheltered sides of the mountains, and repose
among the rocks.

[Illustration: THE NEEDLES. Between Cayetano Mountains and the San
Juan River--Sierra de la Plata, or Silver Mountains, in the distance.]

ITINERARIES.

LIST OF ITINERARIES:

SHOWING THE DISTANCES BETWEEN CAMPING-PLACES, THE CHARACTER OF THE
ROADS, AND THE FACILITIES FOR OBTAINING WOOD, WATER, AND GRASS ON THE
PRINCIPAL ROUTES BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

No. Page

I. From Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Santa Fe and Albuque