It Is In No Sense A Species Of Dog.
The Creature Commonly Weighs About Three Pounds, And Its Note Resembles That
Of A Toy-Dog.
It is a species of marmot; it subsists on grass roots and other
vegetable products; its flesh is delicate
And, when fat, of good flavor.
The writer of these lines, when crossing the great plains, in early times,
found the "prairie-dogs" excellent eating, but difficult to kill;
they are expert at diving into their holes at the slightest signal of danger.
The following days they saw large herds of buffalo, and the copses
of timber appeared to contain elk and deer. "just below Cedar Island,"
adds the journal, "on a hill to the south, is the backbone of a fish,
forty-five feet long, tapering towards the tail, and in a perfect
state of petrifaction, fragments of which were collected
and sent to Washington." This was not a fish, but the fossil
remains of a reptile of one of the earliest geological periods.
Here, too, the party saw immense herds of buffalo, thousands in number,
some of which they killed for their meat and skins. They also
saw elk, deer, turkeys, grouse, beaver, and prairie-dogs. The journal
bitterly complains of the "moschetoes," which were very troublesome.
As mosquitoes we now know them.
Oddly enough, the journal sometimes speaks of "goats" and sometimes
of "antelopes," and the same animal is described in both instances.
Here is a good story of the fleetness of the beautiful creature: -
"Of all the animals we had seen, the antelope seems to possess the most
wonderful fleetness. Shy and timorous, they generally repose only on
the ridges, which command a view of all the approaches of an enemy:
the acuteness of their sight distinguishes the most distant danger;
the delicate sensibility of their smell defeats the precautions
of concealment; and, when alarmed, their rapid career seems
more like the flight of birds than the movements of a quadruped.
After many unsuccessful attempts, Captain Lewis at last, by winding
around the ridges, approached a party of seven, which were on
an eminence towards which the wind was unfortunately blowing.
The only male of the party frequently encircled the summit of the hill,
as if to announce any danger to the females, which formed a group at the top.
Although they did not see Captain Lewis, the smell alarmed them,
and they fled when he was at the distance of two hundred yards:
he immediately ran to the spot where they had been; a ravine concealed
them from him; but the next moment they appeared on a second ridge,
at the distance of three miles. He doubted whether they could be the same;
but their number, and the extreme rapidity with which they continued
their course, convinced him that they must have gone with a speed equal
to that of the most distinguished race-horse. Among our acquisitions
to-day were a mule-deer, a magpie, a common deer, and buffalo:
Captain Lewis also saw a hare, and killed a rattlesnake near the burrows
of the barking squirrels."
By "barking squirrels" the reader must understand that the animal better known
as the prairie-dog is meant; and the mule-deer, as the explorers called it,
was not a hybrid, but a deer with very long ears, better known afterwards
as the black-tailed deer."
At the Big Bend of the Missouri, in the heart of what is now South Dakota,
while camped on a sand-bar, the explorers had a startling experience.
"Shortly after midnight," says the journal, "the sleepers were startled by
the sergeant on guard crying out that the sand-bar was sinking, and the alarm
was timely given; for scarcely had they got off with the boats before the bank
under which they had been lying fell in; and by the time the opposite
shore was reached, the ground on which they had been encamped sunk also.
A man who was sent to step off the distance across the head of the bend,
made it but two thousand yards, while its circuit is thirty miles."
The next day, three Sioux boys swam the river and told them that two
parties of their nation, one of eighty lodges, and one of sixty lodges,
were camped up the river, waiting to have a palaver with the white explorers.
These were Teton Sioux, and the river named for them still bears that title.
Chapter V
From the Tetons to the Mandans
"On the morning of September 25th," says the journal,
"we raised a flagstaff and an awning, under which we assembled,
with all the party parading under arms. The chiefs and warriors,
from the camps two miles up the river, met us, about fifty
or sixty in number, and after smoking we delivered them a speech;
but as our Sioux interpreter, M. Durion, had been left with
the Yanktons, we were obliged to make use of a Frenchman who could
not speak fluently, and therefore we curtailed our harangue.
After this we went through the ceremony of acknowledging
the chiefs, by giving to the grand chief a medal, a flag of
the United States, a laced uniform coat, a cocked hat and feather;
to the two other chiefs, a medal and some small presents;
and to two warriors of consideration, certificates.
The name of the great chief is Untongasabaw, or Black Buffalo;
the second, Tortohonga, or the Partisan; the third, Tartongawaka,
or Buffalo Medicine; the name of one of the warriors was Wawzinggo;
that of the second, Matocoquepa, or Second Bear. We then invited
the chiefs on board, and showed them the boat, the air-gun, and such
curiosities as we thought might amuse them. In this we succeeded
too well; for, after giving them a quarter of a glass of whiskey,
which they seemed to like very much, and sucked the bottle,
it was with much difficulty that we could get rid of them.
They at last accompanied Captain Clark on shore, in a pirogue
with five men; but it seems they had formed a design to stop us;
for no sooner had the party landed than three of the Indians
seized the cable of the pirogue, and one of the soldiers
of the chief put his arms round the mast.
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