386 



MAMMALIA— BISON. 



animals, to leap together from the brink of a dreadful precipice, upon a rock? 

 and broken surface, a hundred feet below. 



When the Indians determine to destroy bisons in this way, one of their 

 swiftest footed and most active young men is selected, who is disguised in 

 a bison skin, having the head, ears, and horns adjusted on his own head, so 

 as to make the deception very complete ; and thus accoutred, he stations 

 himself between the bison herd and some of the precipices, that often 

 extend for several miles along the rivers. The Indians surround the herd 

 as nearly as possible, when, at a given signal, they show themselves and 

 rush forward with loud yells. The animals being alarmed, and seeing no 

 way open but in the direction of the disguised Indian, run towards him, and 

 he, taking to flight, dashes on to the precipice, where he suddenly secures 

 himself in some previously ascertained crevice. The foremost of the herd 

 arrives at the brink — there is no possibility of retreat, no chance of escape; 

 the foremost may for an instant shrink with terror, but the crowd behind, 



who are terrified by the approaching hunters, rush forward with increasing 

 impetuosity, and the aggregated force hurls them successively into the 

 gulf, where certain death awaits them. 



The Indians make a bison pound, by fencing a circular space of about 

 a hundred yards in diameter. The entrance is banked up with snow, 

 sufficiently high to prevent the animals from retreating after they have 

 once entered. For about a mile on each side of the road leading to the 

 pound, stakes are driven into the ground at nearly equal distances, of about 

 twenty vards, which are intended to look like men, and to deter the animah 

 from endeavoring to break through the fence. Within fifty or sixty yards 

 of the pound, branches of trees are placed between the stakes, to screen the 

 Indians, who lie down behind them, to wait for the approach of the bison. 

 The mounted hunters display the greatest dexterity in this sort of chase, as 

 they are obliged to manoeuvre around the herd in the plains so as to urge 

 them into the road-way, which is about a quarter of a mile broad. When 



