208 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 
dreds of animals. In their casual hunts the Indians simply follow the herds 
on horseback, shooting from the saddle when in full pursuit, using either 
bows and arrows or the modern fire-arms with great dexterity. 
Descriptions of the systematic expeditions of the Red River half-breed 
hunters have been given with greater or less fulness by McLean, Ross, 
Hind,* and others. The distinctive features of these grand hunting expe- 
ditions are their magnitude, the number of persons engaged in them, and 
the almost military character of their organization. As previously stated, 
these expeditions generally numbered from five hundred to upwards of 
twelve hundred carts, accompanied by from two hundred and fifty to six 
hundred hunters, nearly twice this number of women and children, besides a 
draught animal (either a horse or an ox) and a dog to each cart, and riding 
animals in addition for the hunters. Setting out from Fort Garry, the expe- 
ditions for many years hunted over the Pembina plains, extending their trips 
southward and westward over the prairies and plains of the Red River, the 
Shayenne, and the Coteau de Missouri. The Red River halfbreed hunters 
have undoubtedly done more to exterminate the buffalo than any other 
single cause, and have long since wholly extirpated them throughout not 
only this vast region, but also over the extensive prairies of the Assinniboine, 
the Quappelle, and the lower Saskatchewan. Their method of hunting was 
for several hundred horsemen armed with fire-arms to make a grand simul- 
taneous rush into the very midst of the immense herds. An attack that 
Mr. Ross witnessed he thus describes: “Our array in the field must have 
been a grand and imposing one to those who had never seen the like before. 
No less than four hundred huntsmen, all mounted, and anxiously waiting for - 
the word ‘Start!’ took up their position in a line at one end of the camp, 
while Captain Wilkie, with his spy-glass at his eye, surveyed the buffalo, 
examined the ground, and issued his orders. At eight o’clock the whole 
cavalcade broke ground and made for the buffalo; first at a slow trot, then 
at a gallop, and lastly at full speed. Their advance was over a dead level, 
- the plain having no hollow or shelter of any kind to conceal their approach. 
.... When the horsemen started the cattle might have been a mile and a 
half ahead; but they had approached to within four or five hundred yards 
before the bulls curved their tails or pawed the ground. In a moment more 
* McLean (John), Notes of Twenty-five Years’ Service in the Hudson’s Bay Territory, Vol. I, 
pp. 297-302; Ross (Alexander), The Red River Settlement, pp. 255-264; Hind (H. Y.), Canad. Expl. 
Expedition, Vol. H, pp. 110, 111. 
