THE AMERICAN BISONS. 85 
largest known of the true deer, have been destroyed by human agency,” im- 
plying their former existence in that State. On inquiry of Professor Cope 
for the grounds of such an inference he states * that. he has found their un- 
fossilized bones in superficial deposits in Virginia, and adds: “I think, but 
will not now assert, from more northern localities.” + 
In Salmon’s “ Present State of Virginia,” printed in 1737, we read that Sir 
William Berkley sent (apparently about 1733) a small party of “ about four- 
teen English and as many Indians, under the Command of Captain Henry 
Batt,” to explore the country to the westward of the settlements in Vir- 
ginia. “They set out together,” says Salmon, “from Appomattox, and in Seven 
Days March reach’d the Foot of the Mountains. The Mountains they first 
arrivd at were not extraordinary high or steep, but after they had pass’d 
the first Ridge they encounter’d others that seem’d to reach the Clouds, and 
were so perpendicular and full of Precipices, that sometimes in a whole Day’s 
March they could not travel three miles in a direct Line. In other Places 
they found large level Plains and fine Savanna’s three or four Miles wide, in 
which were an infinite quantity of Turkies, Deer, Elks, and Buffaloes, so 
gentle and undisturbed that they had no Fear at the Appearance of the Men, 
but would suffer them to come almost within Reach of their Hands.” + This 
account shows that buffaloes were not seen by the explorers till they entered 
the mountains and encountered the herds that extended eastward from the 
valleys of West Virginia. 
Another reference to the supposed occurrence of the buffalo on the eastern 
slope of the Alleghanies is the discovery by Sir Samuel Argoll of “Shag- 
haired Oxen” in Virginia. In his letter to “ Master Nicholas Hawes (written 
“June, 1613”), as given by Purchas, Sir Samuel says: . . . . “[I] returned 
my self with the ship into Pembrook River, and so discovered ¢o the head of tt, 
which is about 65. leagues into the Land, and navigable for any ship. And 
then marching into the Countrie,I found great store of Cattle as big as Kine, 
of which, the Indians that were my guides, killed a couple which wee found 
to be very good and wholesome meate, and are very easie to be killed, in 
regard they are heavy, slow, and not so wild as other beasts of the Wilder- 
* In a letter dated December 22, 1875. 
} In this connection I may add that I have examined remains from the banks of the Susquehanna, and 
other localities in Maryland, some partly fossilized and others nearly unchanged, which though collected 
for bison remains proved to be those of domestic cattle. 
t Salmon (T.), The Present State of Virginia, p. 14, (uondon, 1787). 
