saying that at a single glance
we saw three thousand of them before us. Of all the animals we had seen,
the antelope seems to possess the most wonderful fleetness. Shy and
timorous, they generally repose only on the ridges, which command a view
of all the approaches of an enemy; the acuteness of their sight
distinguishes the most distant danger; the delicate sensibility of their
smell defeats the precautions of concealment; and, when alarmed, their
rapid career seems more like the flight of birds than the movements of
a quadruped. After many unsuccessful attempts, Captain Lewis at last, by
winding around the ridges, approached a party of seven, which were on an
eminence towards which the wind was unfortunately blowing. The only male
of the party frequently encircled the summit of the hill, as if to
announce any danger to the females, which formed a group at the top.
Although they did not see Captain Lewis, the smell alarmed them, and
they fled when he was at the distance of two hundred yards; he
immediately ran to the spot where they had been; a ravine concealed them
from him; but the next moment they appeared on a second ridge, at a
distance of three miles. He doubted whether they could be the same; but
their number, and the extreme rapidity with which they continued their
course, convinced him that they must have gone with a speed equal to
that of the most distinguished race-horse. Among our acquisitions to-day
were a mule deer, a magpie, a common deer, and a buffalo. Captain Lewis
also saw a hare, and killed a rattlesnake near the burrows of the
barking squirrels.

_September 18._--Having everything in readiness, we proceeded, with the
boat much lightened, but the wind being from the northwest, we made but
little way. At one mile we reached an island in the middle of the river,
nearly a mile in length, and covered with red cedar; at its extremity a
small creek comes in from the north. We then met some sand-bars, and the
wind being very high and ahead, we encamped on the south, having made
only seven miles. In addition to the common deer, which were in great
abundance, we saw goats, elk, buffalo, and the black-tailed deer; the
large wolves, too, are very numerous, and have long hair with coarse
fur, and are of a light color. A small species of wolf, about the size
of a gray fox, was also killed, and proved to be the animal which we had
hitherto mistaken for a fox. There are also many porcupines, rabbits,
and barking s