' 
be 
‘ 
THE AMERICAN BISONS. 133 
met with few buffaloes, and these mainly in the vicinity of the Wachita. 
Their route was thence somewhat eastward of the great range of the 
buffalo. The point where M. Cavelier reached the Arkansas is supposed 
to be only a few miles above its junction with the Mississippi, and in speak- 
ing of the surrounding country he says: “The plains on one side [ probably 
to the westward] are stored with beeves, wild goats, deer, turkeys, bus- 
tards, swans, teal, and other game,” thus showing that the buffalo ranged 
eastward nearly to the mouth of the Arkansas. 
Ferdinando de Soto, during his march from Florida through Northern Ala- 
bama and Northern Mississippi into Arkansas, 1539 -41,* did not, as previ- 
ously noticed, enter the habitat of the buffalo until he had crossed the Missis- 
sippi and ascended the valley of the Arkansas for some distance. Although 
they found the Indian tribes well supplied with their robes, none of De 
Soto’s party saw the buffalo alive. A party sent from Pacaha, near the 
mouth of the Arkansas, to search for “the province of Caluga,” did not, in a 
journey of seven days, get apparently beyond the low grounds, and on their 
return reported to their chief that from the termination of their journey 
“thenceforward towards the north the Indians said that the country was 
very ill inhabited, because it was very cold; and that there was such store 
of oxen, that they could keep no corn for them; and that the Indians lived 
upon their flesh.” + The Indians of Coligoa, the highest or most northerly 
point they reached, “reported that five or six leagues from thence toward 
the north, there were many of these oxen.” The “ox-hides” they obtained 
from the Indians are described as being “very soft and wooled like sheep,” 
showing clearly that what they called ox-hides were the skins of buffaloes. 
Again it is stated, “ Not far from thence, towards the north, were many oxen. 
The Christians [Spaniards] saw them not, nor came into the country where 
they were.” ¢ 
Passing from Coligoa across the Washita to the mouth of the Red River, 
they again (after the death of De Soto, and under the lead of Moscoso) 
turned westward, and reached the Trinity above the point where La Salle 
* See “A Narrative of the Expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida. By a Gentleman of Elvas. 
Published at Evora, 1557. Translated from the Portuguese by Richard Hackluyt.” London, 1699. 
Original edition reprinted by the Hakluyt Society in 1851. ‘The edition of 1611 reprinted by French 
in 1850, in his “ Historical Collections of Louisiana,” Part I. 
+ French’s Hist. Coll. Louisiana, Part H, p. 175. 
t Ibid., pp. 177, 181. 
