black cats and rats de bois

[Alan H. Hartley]

Dave Costa :

> > Maybe wolverines, too.  This would seem to underlie the 'wild cat' conception
> > in Riggs.  There's a Siouan name in Lewis & Clark that they render 'Black Cat'
> > that I think might refer to a skunk or a fisher
>
> If they got the species identification correct (a big if), it's the fisher.
> If Lewis and Clark didn't call skunks skunks (a term that's been used in
> English a LONG time) they probably would have called it 'pole cat'.

_Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped._ 3.211:

"Roop-tar-hee or Second Village of the Mandans[:] 1st and Grand
Chief--Pass-cop-sa-he or black Cat" [cf. Maximilian's Mandan
schonta-pussa 'fisher', matoka 'wolverene']

L & C do call skunks "polecats". (They were numerous along the Columbia
during salmon season.)

Alan