[Lewis:]
Wednesday February 19th. 1806.
Sergt. Ordway set out again this morning with a party for the
salt works by land. in the evening Sergt. Gass returned with
the flesh of eight Elk, and seven skins; having left one skin
with Shannon and Labuishe who remained over the netul to
continue the chase. we had the Elk skins divided among the
messes in order that they might be prepared for covering our
baggage when we set out in the spring. our sick are recovering
but they appear to strengthen but slowly. The common
red deer we found under the rocky Mts. in the neighbourhood
of the Chopunnish, and about the great falls of the Columbia
river and as low down the same as the commencement of tide
water. these do not appear to differ essencially from those of
our country being about the same size shape and appearance in
every rispect except their great length of tail which is more than
half as long again as our deer I measured one of them which
was 17 inches long. The Black tailed fallow deer are peculiar
to this coast and are a distinct species of deer partaking equally
of peculiarities of the mule deer and the common deer.[48]
their
ears are reather larger and their winter coat darker than the
common deer; the recepticle of the eye or drane is mor[e]
conspicuous; their legs shorter and body thicker and larger
than the common deer; their tail is about the length of our
deer or from 8 to 10 inches the hair on the underside of
which is white, and that of it's sides and top quite black the
horns resemble in form and colour those of the mule deer
which it also resembles in it's gate; that is bounding with all
four feet off the ground at the same time when running at full
speed and not loping as the common deer or antelope do. they
are sometimes found in the woodlands but most frequently in
the praries and open grounds. they may be said generally to
be a size larger than the common deer and that less than the
mule deer. they are very seldom found in good order, or fat,
even in the season which the common deer are so, and their
flesh is inferior to any species of deer which I have ever seen.
