THE AMERICAN BISONS. 213 
buffaloes at different seasons changed their range. When the weather was 
too warm to allow of the shipment: of the meat to Eastern cities, they killed 
the creatures for their hides, each hunter in this way destroying hundreds in 
the course of a few months, though getting hardly enough for them to pay 
his expenses. A few of the more enterprising preserved a portion of the 
meat by salting and smoking it. As no skins can be taken from those from 
which the quarters are taken, an animal is thus sacrificed for each hide taken 
and for each saddle saved. 
The life of a buffalo-hunter is one of hardship and exposure, and yet one 
of remarkable fascination to those who have ever engaged in such pursuits. 
In winter, owing to sudden changes of temperature, the hunter is often in 
great danger, since he is liable to be overtaken by storms and extreme cold 
when far out on the prairie, many miles from any means of protection. The 
early part of the winter of 1871-72 was one of remarkable severity in the 
West, even as far south as the plains of Northern Kansas, where in Decem- 
ber, 46h, several hunters perished from the cold, and many others were 
maimed from having been frost-bitten, some of whom narrowly escaped with 
their lives. Within the winter range of the northern herds of the Kansas 
buffaloes, a lone tree here and there, at the head of some ravine, usually 
forms the hunter’s sole dependence for firewood. His own improvidence, 
however, often deprives him of many comforts, as well as a considerable 
degree of security, which a little trouble and care would secure to him. 
The life of a hunter seems always to tend more or less to barbarism, but 
especially is this the case with the buffalo-hunter. The “ buffalo rangers” 
of the Red River Settlements are described by Ross, Hind, and others, as 
speedily becoming unfitted for agricultural or other civilized pursuits. Im- 
provident and unthrifty in their habits, they riot in plenty during a part of the 
year, and again verge upon starvation before the arrival of their annual hunt- 
ing season. The buffalo-hunter of the Plains contrasts unfavorably in many 
respects with his Rocky Mountain brother. With the less degree of skill 
required in the chase of the stupid, unwieldy bison, as compared with the 
tact and caution required in the successful pursuit of the watchful prong- 
horn, the timid deer, the elk, or the bighorn, there is a corresponding lack 
of thrift and energy on the part of the hunter. In place of the buckskin 
suit of the Rocky Mountain hunter, the buffalo-hunter goes clad in a coarse 
dress of canvas, stiffened with blood and grease. His hair often goes uncut 
and uncombed for months together, and his hands are frequently unwashed 
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