Rocky Mountains. 451 



ed to be made up for the journey, consisted, exclusive of the 

 Spaniard, of twenty -two men, thirty-four horses and mules, 

 and two dogs. 



We were well armed and equipped, each man carrying a 

 yauger or rifle gun, with the exception of two or three who 

 had muskets; most of us had pistols, all tomahawks and 

 long knives, which we carried suspended at our belts. We 

 believed ourselves about to enter on a district of country 

 inhabited by lawless and predatory bands of savages, where 

 we should have occasion to make use, not only of our arms, 

 but of whatever share of courage and hardihood we might 

 chance t6 possess. 



The country which we passed on the 14th, lying between 

 the Loup fork and the Platte, has an undulating surface, ex- 

 cept that portion of it which comprises the bottom lands of 

 the two rivers. The ridges are of little elevation, destitute 

 of stone of any kind, and irregular in direction; the soil is 

 sandy and infertile. The high and barren parts of this tract 

 are occupied by numerous communities of the Prairie dog 

 or Louisiana marmot.* 



* Arctomys Ludoviciana, Ord. This interesting and sprightly little ani- 

 mal has received the absurd and inappropriate name of Prairie dog, 

 from a fancied resemblance of its warning cry to the hurried barking of 

 a small dog. This sound ma} be imitated with the human voice, by the 

 pronunciation of the syllable cheh, clieh, cheh, in a sibilated manner, and 

 in rapid succession, by propelling the breath between the tip of the tongue 

 and the roof of the mouth. The aoimal is of a light dirty reddish- brown 

 colour above, which is intermixed with some gray, also a few black hairs. 

 This coating of hair is of a dark lead colour next the skin, then bluish- 

 white, then light reddish, then gray at the tip. The lower parts of the 

 body are of a dirty white colour. The head is wide and depressed above, 

 with lara;e eyes; the iris is dark brown. The ears are short and truncat- 

 ed; the whiskers of moderate length and black; a few bristles project from 

 the anterior portion of the superior orbit of the eye, and a few also from 

 a wart on the cheek: the nose is somewhat sharp and compressed; the 

 hair of the anterior leg*, anJ that t»f the throat and neck, is not dusky at 

 base. All the feet are five toed, covered with very short hair, and 

 armed with raiher long- black nails: the exterior one of the fore foot near- 

 ly attains the base of the next, and the middle one is half an inch in 

 length: the thumb is armed with a conic nail, three tenths of an inch in 



