[307] On a careful investigation, I have not been able to discover from what source Lewis and Clarke procured a part of their singular denominations for the affluents of the Missouri; for, in the languages of the neighbouring Indian nations, they have entirely different names.—Maximilian.
[308] The French form for this river was Le Boulet. It rises somewhat north of the Black Hills, flows east in two branches across North Dakota, and empties into the Missouri in Morton County.—Ed.
[309] For a brief sketch of the Mandan, see our volume v, pp. 113, 114, note 76. Maximilian is a chief authority for the customs of this interesting tribe. See our volume xxiii.—Ed.
[310] Alexander Harvey was a clerk of the American Fur Company. Born and reared in St. Louis, he quarrelled with his first employers while still a minor, and ran away to join the fur company. He was for several years at Fort McKenzie, and one of the participants in the Blackfoot massacre of 1843-44. Harvey was a bold and desperate character, and tales of his atrocities are narrated by Larpenteur, a fellow employé. In 1845 he left the company's employ, and organized a rival concern, of which he was head. He was living at Fort Yates as late as 1896.—Ed.
[311] The black-tailed or mule deer of the Americans (Cervus macrotis, Say), has been described, by later zoologists, from an imperfect skin; I will, therefore, give an imperfect description from nature. It is larger than the Virginian deer, not so light, has a larger hoof, much longer ears, and does not run so swiftly—not quicker than a buffalo cow. It casts its horns in March, and throws off the rough skin of them in August. They have, generally, only one young one—sometimes two; they are marked with white spots, on a pale yellowish-red ground. One of these animals, of three or four years old, in shape nearly resembled the Virginian deer; the hair of the body was hard and scanty; the whole of a pale yellowish-red; the breast greyish-brown, and, on the belly, yellowish-white. In winter, the colour nearly resembles that of our deer in the same season. Each of the horns of this deer had four antlers, nearly as in Cervus elaphus. Woodcut B represents the horns of a large deer of this species.—Maximilian.
Comment by Ed. See p. [347], for illustration of antlers of deer.
[312] Marked on Lewis and Clark's map as Shepherd River; it is now Apple Creek, flowing from the east in Bismarck County, North Dakota.—Ed.
[313] For Heart River, see our volume v, p. 148, note 91.—Ed.
[314] On the west bank; Square Butte Creek takes its name therefrom.—Ed.
[315] Lewis and Clark here met a party of Mandan on a hunting excursion. This creek has not been certainly identified, the river's bed having changed in the vicinity. It is probably Deer Creek, in Oliver County.—Ed.