第11章

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. The head resembles the squirrel in every respect, except that the ear is shorter; the tail like that of the ground squirrel; the toe nails are long, the fur is fine, and the long hair is gray."

Great confusion has been caused in the minds of readers on account of there being another burrowing animal, called by Lewis and Clark "the burrowing squirrel," which resembles the petit chien in some respects.

But the little animal described here is now well known as the prairie-dog,--an unfortunate and misleading name. 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.