SOURCE OP ST. PETER S RIVER. 2? 



north of them ; however they frequently met with buffalo 

 hides, particularly when west of the Mississippi ; and Du 

 Pratz, who published in 1758, informs us that at that time 

 the animal did not exist in lower Louisiana. We know, 

 however, of one author, Bernard Romans, who wrote in 

 1774, and who speaks of the buffalo as a benefit of nature 

 bestowed upon Florida. There can be no doubt that the 

 animal approached the Gulf of Mexico near the Bay of St. 

 Bernard, for Alvar Nunez about the year 1535, saw them 

 not far from the coast, and Joutel, one hundred and jfifty 

 years afterwards, saw them at the Bay of St. Bernard. It 

 is probable that this bay is the lowest point of latitude at 

 which this animal has been found east of the Rocky 

 Mountains. There can be no doubt of their existence west 

 of those mountains, though Father Venegas does not in- 

 clude them among the animals of California, and although 

 they were not seen west of the mountains by Lewis and 

 Clarke, nor mentioned by Harmon or Mackenzie as ex- 

 isting in New Caledonia, a country of immense extent, 

 which is included between the Pacific Ocean, the Rocky 

 Mountains, the territory of the United States, and the 

 Hussian possessions on the north-west coast of America, 

 Yet its existence at present on the Columbia appears to be 

 well ascertained, and we are told that there is a tradition 

 among the natives, that shortly before the visit of our en- 

 terprising explorers, destructive fires had raged over the 

 prairies, and driven the buffalo east of the mountains. Mr. 

 Dougherty, the very able and intelligent sub-agent who 

 accompanied the expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and 

 who communicated so much valuable matter to Mr. Sa)-, 

 asserted that he had seen a few of them in the mountains, 

 but not west of them. It is highly probable that the buffalo 

 ranged on the western side of the Rocky Mountains, to 



