A Few Days Later, The Party Saw A Species Of Animal Which They
Described As "Goats," - Very Fleet, With Short
Pronged horns inclining
backward, and with grayish hair, marked with white on the rump.
This creature, however, was the American
Antelope, then unknown
to science, and first described by Lewis and Clark. While visiting
a strange dome-shaped mountain, "resembling a cupola," and now known
as "the Tower," the explorers found the abode of another animal,
heretofore unknown to them. "About four acres of ground,"
says the journal, "was covered with small holes." The account continues:
"These are the residence of a little animal, called by the French
petit chien (little dog), which sit erect near the mouth, and make
a whistling noise, but, when alarmed, take refuge in their holes.
In order to bring them out we poured into one of the holes five barrels
of water without filling it, but we dislodged and caught the owner.
After digging down another of the holes for six feet, we found,
on running a pole into it, that we had not yet dug half-way to the bottom:
we discovered, however, two frogs in the hole, and near it we killed
a dark rattlesnake, which had swallowed a small prairie dog.
We were also informed, though we never witnessed the fact,
that a sort of lizard and a snake live habitually with these animals.
The petit chien are justly named, as they resemble a small dog
in some particulars, although they have also some points of similarity
to the squirrel.
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