( ) 
THE AMERICAN BISONS. 201 
99% 
without flour, coffee, and tobacco. In the narratives of military reconnais- 
sances and other government explorations of the Plains, as well as of those. 
of private explorers and travellers, the first meeting with buffalo chips is 
chronicled as something intimately affecting the welfare of the party, as it 
not only generally gives promise of soon meeting with herds of the animals 
themselves, but insures fuel for the camp-fire and for culinary purposes in 
regions where other sources of fuel are either precarious or entirely wanting. 
In the history of travel across the great interior plains, from those of Texas 
to those of the Saskatchewan, no other element, not even water, figures more 
prominently. Its absence in the treeless districts necessitates the transpor- 
tation of wood as an indispensable part of the camp stores, while its presence 
not only renders this needless, but insures all those ordinary comforts of 
camp life that the conveniences of a camp-fire always bring. Hence its im- 
portance as a civilizing agent cannot well be overrated. The misery experi- 
enced when, during rainy seasons, it is temporarily too wet to burn, — the 
deprivation of the “cup that cheers but not inebriates,’ and of all means of 
cooking, — gives one a most vividly realizing sense of what his condition 
might be, for days and weeks, were it not for this invaluable resource. 
How long the chip will endure the vicissitudes of the weather under the 
dry atmosphere of the Plains it is impossible to say, but its decomposition is 
slow, as it will remain in serviceable condition for years. After an exposure 
of six months it burns quite readily, but is not at its best as an article of 
fuel till it has had the suns and frosts of a year. It burns in much the same 
manner as peat, and though making but little flame yields a very intense 
heat. Strips of buffalo fat thrown on at intervals during the evening add a 
bright blaze, furnishing the explorer with ample light by which to write up 
his notes of the day’s work, and enlivening the camp with all the cheer af- 
forded by the pition and pitch-pine camp-fires of the mountains or other 
wooded districts. Especially grateful does this “buffalo-chip” fire thus be- 
come in the long cold evenings of the hunter’s winter camp on the Plains. 
Another use to which buffalo chips are sometimes put is that of marking 
trails, and even surveyor’s lines and points, it temporarily serving the office 
of stones and stakes in places where timber and stones are not to be ob- 
tained, as is the case over so large a part of the Great Plains. 
* “Chips from the Buffalo's Workshop ” —Jrorest and Stream, April 1, 1875. 
