THE BISON. 15 



is exposed to a considerable danger of falling, in 

 consequence of the numerous holes made in the 

 plains by the badger. 



When the hunting is ended and a sufficiency of 

 game killed/ the squaws come up from the rear to 

 skin and dress the meat, a business in which they 

 have acquired a great degree of dexterity, as they 

 can, with very inferior instruments, butcher a bison 

 with far more celerity and precision than the white 

 hunters. 



If a bison is found dead, without an arrow in the 

 body, or any particular mark attached, it becomes 

 the property of the finder, so that a hunter may ex- 

 pend his arrows to no purpose when they fall oft*, 

 after wounding or fairly perforating the animal. 

 That the Indians do frequently send their arrows 

 through the body of this animal is well attested 

 by a great number of witnesses. In Long's ex- 

 pedition to the sources of St. Peters' river, it is 

 related that Wahnita, a distinguished chief of the 

 Sioux, has been seen to drive his arrow through the 

 body of one bison, and sufficiently deep into the 

 body of a second to inflict a deadly wound. 



When the ice is breaking up on the rivers in the 

 spring of the year, the dry grass of the surrounding 

 plains is set on lire, and the bison are tempted to 

 cross the river in search of the young grass that im- 

 mediately succeeds the burning of the old. In the 

 attempt to cross, the bison is often insulated on a 

 large cake of ice that floats down the river. The 



