On the Natural History of North America. 101 



■spoons and cups, some of the last of which are large enough 

 to contain a sufficiency of food for the breakfast or dinner 

 of four men. 



I have been well assured that a small species of goat, 

 spo.tted black and white, inhabits the country beyond the 

 Mississippi, to the south of the Missouri. They are said 

 to be numerous. They have also been seen, but less plen- 

 tifully, about the mouth of the Arkansaw river, which emp- 

 ties itself into the Mississippi nearly in the latitude of 33° 

 50'. They are said to be much smaller than the common 

 kind of goat, and extremely wild. This is possibly a va- 

 riety of the common goat ; but it is more probable that it 

 is a distinct species, or perhaps a species of the genus an- 

 telope. Francis Ximenez, in his Account of New Spain, 

 of which the country that is watered by the Arkansaw is a 

 part, says there are in this country great numbers of rock 

 goats, which the savages call mazatl*. These rock goats 

 may be the same animal as the small pied goat which I have 

 mentioned. But this is conjecture. I must add that I have 

 received the most undoubted information of the existence 

 of great herds of a small horned animal in that part of New 

 Spain which is watered by the Red river, a considerable 

 western branch of the Mississippi f. From the description 

 which has been communicated to me, I think there can be 

 little doubt that the animal is either a species of goat or 

 antelope, and very probably the niazatl of Ximenez. Cla- 

 vigero's confident assertion, that the taye of theMonqui In- 

 dians is the bouquetin or capra ibex, renders it probable that 

 this last-mentioned animal is actually a native of the western 

 parts of North America. In that case, perhaps the mazatl 

 and the Red river animal are no other than the ibex. Cer- 

 tain I am, that the taye cannot be the same as the ibex. 



The ursiL'i maritimus, or polar bear (uurs de vitr of Buf-r 

 fon), is said to be a common animal in the country adja- 

 cent to a river called the Plata, which empties itself into 

 the Mi?souri about four hundred leagues above the junction 

 of this latter river with the Mississippi. As the Missouri, 

 from its source to its mOuth, pursues a course nearly due 

 east, we find that the white bear is conmion twelve hun- 

 dred miles west of the Mississippi, nearly in the latitude of 

 40°; this being about the latitude of the mouth of the Mis^ 

 souri. To the north of this the animal is much more 



• Francis Ximenez, as quoted by De Laet. in hi« Novus Orbis, p. 232. 

 ■j 'Ihc mouth of this river is nearly in latitude 31". 



G 3 common. 



