30 THE BROWN SHEEP

those of the Rockies for size. Even in the old days, when
hardly anybody except Indians and a few local white
men hunted in that district, really heavy heads were not
to be had, though the residents of that district will insist
that they have seen rams with all sorts of wonder measure-
ments. In the Lillooet district a ram with a base measure-
ment of 154 inches in a first-rate trophy, one with 16 inches
very seldom obtained, while the biggest I have actually
known of only went 163 inches. Such base measurements
would be small for a Rocky Mountain “ Bighorn,’’ which
occasionally goes as high as 18 inches, and even 19 inches,
at the base, and in addition has a greater length of horn.
However, if you went into the Lillooet district now you
would be lucky to get any sort of a head at all, as during
the past year or two the stock has dwindled down to a
mere nothing compared with what there used to be.
It would appear that the sheep there are doomed to the
same fate as those of the Ashnola. This is due to a variety
of causes, such as increased number of cougar and golden
eagles, which prey on the lambs, and the coyotes that
are allowed to continue their work of destruction, as well
as to excessive hunting in the rutting season, and, more
lately, to the absolute non-enforcement of a close season
that was put on the district.

How many sheep there are there now I only know from
hearsay, as it is nearly seven years since I was up on these
ranges, but it is probable that there are not a tenth of
the number that there were at the time of my last visit.
On that occasion the object of my trip was to find a big
band that had been reported to be on, or near, what is
known as Blue Mountain. As luck would have it I got
to the range at the beginning of November, just in time to
run into a very bad blizzard which had already dispersed
the band, but in spite of this I counted nearly a hundred
head in one basin. If you went to the same place at the
same time of the year now you might not sce any, and
twenty would be the extreme limit.

With careful preservation, combined with the destruc-
tion of vermin—neither of which the present Government