60 THE ANTELOPE. 



fore legs, two feet ten inches. The female is smaller than 

 the male, having horns, with rather a protuberance than 

 a prong. She is also deficient in the black of the neck." 

 The Indians, particularly the Shoshonees, have a re- 

 markable mode of hunting these animals on the plains, 

 which is well described by Lewis and Clark : " The chief 

 game of the Shoshonees is the antelope, which, when pur- 

 sued, retreats to the open plains, where the horses have 

 full room for the chase. But such is its extraordinary 

 fleetness and wind, that a single horse has no possible 

 chance of outrunning it, or tiring it down; and the 

 hunters are therefore obliged to resort to stratagem. 

 About twenty Indians, mounted on fine horses, armed 

 with bows and arrows, left the camp ; in a short time they 

 descried a herd of ten antelopes ; they immediately sepa- 

 rated into squads of two or three, and formed a scattered 

 circle round the herd, for five or six miles, keeping at a 

 wary distance, so as not to alarm them, till they were 

 perfectly inclosed, and usually selecting some command- 

 ing eminence as a stand. Having gained their positions, 

 a small party rode toward the herd, and with wonderful 

 dexterity the huntsman preserved his seat, and the horse 

 his footing, as he ran at full speed over the hills and 

 down the steep ravines, and along the borders of the pre- 

 cipices. They were soon outstripped by the antelopes, 

 which, on gaining the other extremity of the circle, were 



