THE SEWELLEL. |QI 
DIMENSIONS. 
Inches. Lines. 
Length of head and body, 14 
“ tail, 6 
Wrist joint to end of middle claw, 1 9 
Middle claw, 6 
Length of head, - 8 4 
HABITS. 
Lewis and Clark, who discovered this species during their journey 
across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, give us the following account 
of it : 
“ Sewellel is a name given by the natives to a small animal found in the 
timbered country on this coast. It is more abundant in the neighbourhood 
of the great falls and rapids of the Columbia than on the coast. The 
natives make great use of the skins of this animal in forming their robes, 
which they dress with the fur on, and attach them together with the sinews 
of the elk or deer. The skin when dressed is from fourteen to eighteen 
inches long, and from seven to nine in width : the tail is always separated 
from the skin by the natives when making their robes.” 
“ This animal mounts a tree, and burrows in the ground, precisely like a 
squirrel. The ears are short, thin, and pointed, and covered with a fine 
short hair, of a uniform reddish-brown ; the bottom or the base of the long 
hairs, which exceed the fur but little in length, as well as the fur itself, are 
of a dark colour next to the skin for two thirds of the length of this 
animal ; the fur and hair are very fine, short, thickly set, and silky ; the 
ends of the fur and tip of the hair are of a reddish-brown, and that colour 
predominates in the usual appearance of the animal. Captain Lewis 
offered considerable rewards to the Indians, but was never able to procure 
one of these animals alive.” 
Mr. Douglas gave Dr. Richardson an Indian blanket or robe, formed 
by sewing the skins of the Sewellel together. This robe contained twenty- 
seven skins, selected when the fur was in fine order. They are described 
by Dr. Richardson as all having the long hairs so numerous as to hide 
the wool or down at their roots, and their points have a very high lustre. 
The doctor appears to think there were skins of two species of Sewellel in 
this robe. W e did not hear of this animal ever being found to the east of 
the Rocky Mountains. Our figure was drawn from a fine specimen in 
London. 
We are inclined to think from the form of the Sewellel that it is a great 
