184 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 
plains or spent much time in the buffalo country has also called attention to 
this exterminating slaughter, and predicted their complete annihilation at no 
very distant date. Some writers believed twenty or thirty years ago that 
they would hardly survive to the present time unless*protected by the gov- 
ernment. 
Dr. Leidy, in 1852, says: “The day is not far distant when it [the buffalo | 
will become quite extinct, unless protected by a munificent republic, as has 
been done by the Emperor of Russia in the case of the aurochs, or European 
bison.” * Professor Baird, writing at about the same time, says: “Still, vast 
as these herds are, their numbers are much less than in earlier times, and 
they are diminishing with fearful rapidity. Every year sees more or less 
change in this respect, as well as alterations of their. great line of travel. 
.... If it were possible to enforce game-laws, or any other laws on the 
prairies, it would be well to attach the most stringent penalties against the 
barbarous practice of killing buffalo merely for the sport, or perhaps for the 
tongues alone. Thousands are killed every year in this way. After all, 
however, it is perhaps the Indian himself who commits the mischief most 
wantonly.” + 
General W. F. Raynolds, in his report of his Exploration of the Yellow- , 
stone in 1859 and 1860, thus refers to this matter: } “And here I would 
remark, that the wholesale destruction of the buffalo is a matter that should 
receive the attention of the proper authorities. It is due to the fact that the 
skin of the ‘female is alone valuable for robes. The skin of the male over 
three years old is never used for that purpose, the hair on the hind quarters 
being not longer than that on a horse, while on the fore quarters it has a 
length of from four to six inches. The skin is also too thick and heavy to 
be used for anything but lodge coverings, while the flesh is coarse and 
unpalatable, and is never used for food when any other can be had. The 
result is that the females are always singled out by the hunter, and conse- 
quently the males in a herd always exceed the females, in the proportion of 
ten to one. Another, but far less important cause of their extinction is the 
immense number of wolves in the country, which destroy the young. The 
only remedy that would have the slightest effect in the case would be a pro- 
hibition of the trade of buffalo-robes, and a premium upon wolf-skins. I fear 
* Mem. Extinct Species of American Ox, p. 4 (Smith. Contrib., Vol. V, Art. iii). 
+ Pat. Off. Rep., Agricult., 1851-52, Part II, p. 125. 
{ Exploration of the Yellowstone, p. 11, published in 1868. 
