The American Buffalo. S51 



approved by the voyageurs. The pemmican was then placed in tin 

 canisters, and well rammed down ; and after the cooling and con- 

 traction of the mas&, these were filled with melted lard through 

 a small hole left in the end, which was then covered with a piec« 

 of tin, and soldered up. The total amount of beef used by Sir 

 John Richardson amounted to 35,651 pounds; of lard, to 7549 

 pounds; of currants, to 1008 pounds; of sugar, to 280 pounds-. 

 These material constituted 17,424 pounds of pemmican^ costing at 

 the rate of 1 shilling 7^ pence (36 cents) per pound. 



The meat biscuit of Mr. Borden, now manufactured from beef 

 by him at Galveston in large quantities, is also of much economi- 

 cal importance. 



We conclude our article, already extended to unreasonable 

 length, by presenting an account of some domesticated buffaloes, 

 which, better than any language of our own, will present the ques- 

 tion of domestication in a proper light. It is taken from Audu- 

 bon and Bachman's Quadrupeds, as furnished these gentlemen by 

 Robert Wickliffe, Esq., of Lexington, Ky., who has tried the 

 experiment fully. 



" The herd of buffalo I now possess have descended from one 

 or two cows that I purchased from a man who brought them from 

 the country called the Upper Missouri. I have had them for about 

 thirty years ; but from giving them away, and the occasional kil- 

 ling of them by mischievous persons, as well as other causes, my 

 whole stock at this time does not exceed ten or twelve. I have 

 sometimes confined them in separate parks from other cattle, but 

 generally they herd and feed with my stock of farm-cattle. They 

 graze in company with them as gently as the others. The buf- 

 falo cows, I think, go with young about the same time the com- 

 mon cow does, and produce once a year. None of mine have ever 

 had more than one at a birth. 



" Although the bufl'alo, like the domestic cow, brings forth its 

 young at different seasons of the year, this I attribute to the effect 

 of domestication, as it is different with all animals in a state of 

 nature. I have always heard their time for calving in our latitude 

 was from March until July ; and it is very obviously the season 

 which nature assiorns for the increase of both races, as most of mv 

 calves were from the buffaloes and common cows at this season. 

 On getting possession of the tame buffalo, I endeavored to cross 

 them as much as I could with my common cows, to which experi- 

 ment I found the tame or common bull unwilling to accede ; and 



