THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 441 



are like that animal except iu the horns, which resemble those of the ram, sometimes 

 making two entire circles in their coil ; and at the roots each horn is, in some in- 

 stances, from five to six inches in breadth. 



On the second day of our voyage we discovered a number of these animals skipping 



along the sides of the precipice, always keeping about equidistant between the top 



and bottom of the ledge, leaping and vaulting in the most extraordinary manner from 



point to point, and seeming to cling actually to the sides of the wall, where neither 



* man nor beast could possibly follow them. 



We landed our canoe and endeavored to shoot one of these sagacious animals ; and 

 after he had led us a long and fruitless chase amongst the cliffs we thought we had 

 fairly entrapped him in such a way as to be sure to bring him, at last, within the 

 command of our rifles, when he suddenly bounded from his narrow foot-hold in the 

 ledge and tumbled down a distance of more than a hundred feet amongst the frag- 

 ments of rocks and clay, where I thought we must certainly find his carcass without 

 further trouble, when, to my great surprise, I saw him bounding off, and he was 

 almost instantly out of my sight. 



Bogard, who was an old hunter and well acquainted with these creatures, shoul- 

 dered his rifle and said to me, "The game is up ; and now you see the use of those 

 big horns ; when they fall by accident, or find it necessary to quit their foot-hold in 

 the crevice, they fall upon their head at a great distance unharmed, even though it 

 should be on the solid rock." 



PURSUING A WAR-EAGLE. 



Being on shore, and our canoe landed secure, we whiled away the greater part of 

 this day amongst the wild and ragged cliffs into which we had entered, and a part 

 of our labors were vainly spent in the pursuit of a war-eagle. This noble bird is the 

 one which the Indians in these regions value so highly for their tail feathers, which 

 are used as the most valued plumes for decorating the heads and dresses of their war- 

 riors. It is a beautiful bird, and, the Indians tell me, conquers all the other varieties 

 of eagles in the country ; from which circumstance the Indians respect the bird and 

 hold it in the highest esteem, and value its quills. I am unable to say to what va- 

 riety it belongs, but I am sure it is not to be seen in any of our museums; nor is it 

 to bo found in America (I think), until one gets near to the base of the Rocky Mount- 

 ains. This bird has often been called the calumet eagle and war-eagle, the last of 

 which appellations I have already accounted for, and the other has arisen from the 

 fact that the Indians almost invariably ornament the calumets or pipes of peace with 

 its quills. 



THE COUNTRY ALONG THE UPPER MISSOURI. 



Our day's loitering brought us through many a wild scene ; occasionally across the 

 tracks of the grizzly bear, and in sight merely of a band of buffaloes, " which got 

 the wind of us," and were out of the way, leaving us to return to our canoe at night 

 with a mere speck of good luck. Just before we reached the river I heard the crack 

 of a rifle, and in a few moments Bogard came in sight and threw down from his 

 shoulders a fine antelope, which added to our larder, and wo wore ready to proceed. 

 We embarked and traveled until nightfall, when we encamped on a beautiful little 

 prairie at the base of a series of grass-covered bluffs ; and the next morning cooked 

 our breakfast and eat it, and rowed on until late in the afternoon, when we stopped 

 at the base of some huge clay bluffs, forming one of the most curious and romantic 

 scenes imaginable. At this spot the river expands itself into the appearance some- 

 what of a beautiful lake; and in the midst of it, and on and about its sand-bars, 

 floated and stood hundreds and thousands of white swans and pelicans. 



Though the scene in front of our encampment at this place was placid and beauti- 

 ful; with its flowing water, its wild fowl, and its almost endless variety of grace- 

 fully slox^ing hills and green prairies in the distance, yet it was not less wild and 



