10 “Account of a North American Quadruped 
the horns appear to have stood on the top of the head, some- 
what in the manner of those of a goat, or of those on the figure 
of Shaw’s Pigmy Antelope, Gen. Zool. vol. ii. plate 18, and 
vignette on the title-page. But one* horn is now attached to 
the skin, and that measures three inches and three quarters in 
length, on the fore part; it is slightly recurved, cylindrical and 
acuminated, its base is somewhat tumid, and, with its lower 
half, is scabrous, its upper part smooth, obsoletely striated, and 
of a black colour. 
A cut of -this horn, of the size of na- 
ture, accompanies this account, by which 
figure it will be evident to the naturalists, 
that the above described sheep is a di- 
stinct species. It is true that the animal 
was young, and we have no positive evi- 
dence that when full-grown or old the 
horns do not increase in size, so as to re- 
semble those of some well-known species 
or varieties of the genus. One of Lewis 
and Clark’s men informed them that he 
had seen the animal in the Black Hills, 
and that the horns were lunated like 
those of the domestic sheep. The Indians 
asserted that the horns were erect and 
pointed. The latter account is the more 
probable, as it has been remarked by 
travellers, that in describing those natural 
productions with which they are conver- 
sant, our Indians seldom deviate from the 
truth. 
We would incite the attention of our j i) 
citizens to this important discovery ; for \ a \ 
although the Spanish missionaries in 1697 " Ai Nh 
made mention of this sheep, and it is ASS 
again noticed in Venegas’ History of Ca- : 
liforniat, yet these accounts were discredited. It is Captain 
Lewis to whom belongs the honour of having been the first to 
assure his countrymen, by the exhibition of a genuine specimen, 
that the animal does exist. How subservient to the wants and 
pleasures of mankind it may be rendered by domestication, we 
cannot at present declare; but there is room for conjecture, that 
the introduction of this new species of a race of quadrupeds im- 
memorially ranked among the most valuable of the gifts of the 
* The other horn is in Peale’s Museum. 
+ Vol. i. p. 36, English translation, London, 1759. 
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