_Travels_ speaks of "goats" being killed in the neighbourhood of
Niagara, meaning no other than the prong-horned antelopes. The true wild
goat of America is a very different animal, and is only found in the
remote regions of the Rocky Mountains.

What Norman had shot, then, was an antelope; and the reason why it is
called "cabree" by the voyageurs, and "goat" by the fur-traders, is
partly from its colour resembling that of the common goat, but more from
the fact, that along the upper part of its neck there is a standing
mane, which does in truth give it somewhat the appearance of the
European goat. Another point of resemblance lies in the fact, that the
"prong-horns" emit the same disagreeable odour, which is a well-known
characteristic of the goat species. This proceeds from two small
glandular openings that lie at the angles of the jaws, and appear spots
of a blackish-brown colour.

Both Lucien and Francois had shot antelopes. They had decoyed them
within range in their former expedition on the prairies, and had seen
wolves do the same. The Indians usually hunt them in this manner, by
holding up some bright-coloured flag, or other curious object, which
rarely fails to bring them within shot; but Norman informed his cousins
that the Indians of the Hudson's Bay Company care little about the
antelope, and rarely think it worth hunting. Its skin is of little value
to them, and they consider its flesh but indifferent eating. But the
chief reason why they take so little notice of it is, because it is
found in the same range, with the buffalo, the moose, and the elk; and,
as all these animals are more valuable to the Indian hunter, he allows
the antelope to go unmolested, unless when he is hard pressed with
hunger, and none of the others are to be had.

While skinning the antelope for breakfast, Norman amused his companions
by relating how he had killed it. He said he had got near enough to
shoot it by practising a "dodge." After travelling through the woods for
some half-mile or so, he had come out into a country of "openings," and
saw that there was a large prairie beyond. He saw that the woods
extended no farther than about a mile from the banks of the river, and
that the whole country beyond was without timber, except in scattered
clumps. This is, in fact, true of the Red River country, particularly
of its western part, from which the great prairies stretch westward even
to the "foot-hills" of the Rocky Mountains.