A PRAIRIE DOG VILLAGE. 139 



turbs the public order. He is, in a word, a pattern for 

 till created beings. 



I had often wished, during my residence in the United 

 States, to visit one of their gigantic burrows j an ani- 

 mated, buzzing, and swarming labyrinth. No opportun- 

 ity offered, until, one evening, after a hunt with the 

 Redskins. One of the companions of the Pawnee chief, 

 Rahm-o-j-or, who had strayed to some distance from our 

 troop, had fallen in with a picturesque little valley, on 

 the sunny slope of a hill, and here, in the solitude, he had 

 discovered " a village of prairie dogs." In the evening, 

 coming up with our caravan, he informed us of what he 

 had seen. 



Early the next morning, all my friends and I mounted 

 our horses for the purpose of visiting this curious phalan- 

 stery. What I had heard about the prairie dogs made 

 me approach their vast burrow with a sportsman's curi- 

 osity added to a naturalist's scientific interest. 



Before reaching the summit of the hill whose slope 

 was occupied by the marmots, we dismounted from our 

 steeds, and, fastening them to a row of trees, advanced 

 cautiously and silently in the direction of the village. 



I know not whether the instinct of the prairie dogs 

 had been awakened by the sound of our footsteps, but, 

 on our approach, their sentinels gave the alarm, and 

 decamped towards the nearest openings to seek shelter 

 with their comrades. The latter, prudently maintaining 

 their position on their hind-legs at the entrance of their 

 burrows, aroused the echoes with a peculiar yelping, and 

 then, after engaging in some fantastic capers, disappeared 

 each into his respective cell. 



The "village of prairie dogs" lying before our eyes 



