SOURCE OF ST. PETER S RIVER. 29 



and foote very large in maner of an oxe." It may, how- 

 ever, be questioned, whether these were not musk oxen, 

 instead of the common buflalo or bison of our prairies. We 

 have no authority of any weight, which warrants us in ad- 

 mitting that the buffalo existed north of Lakes Ontario, 

 Erie, &c. and east of Lake Superior. From what we know 

 of the country between Nelson's river, Hudson's Bay, and 

 the lower lakes, including New South Wales and Upper 

 Canada, we are inclined to believe that the buffalo never 

 abounded there, if indeed any were ever found north of 

 the lakes. But west of Lake Winnepeek we know that 

 the}'^ are found as far north as the 62d degree of north la- 

 titude. Captain Franklin's party killed one on Salt river, 

 about the 60th degree. Probably they are found all over 

 the prairies, which are bounded on the north by a line 

 commencing at the point at w^hich the 62° meets the base of 

 the Rocky Mountains, and running in a south-easterly direc- 

 tion to the southern extremity of Lake Winnepeek, which 

 is but very little north of the 50th degree. On the Sas- 

 katchawan, buffaloes are very abundant. It may be proper 

 to mention here, that the small white buffalo, of which 

 Mackenzie makes frequent mention on the authority of 

 the Indians, who told him that they lived in the mountains, 

 is probably not the bison : for Lewis and Clarke inform us 

 that the Indians designated by that name the mountain 

 sheep.* It is probable that, west of the Rocky Mountains, 

 the buffalo does not extend far north of the Columbia. 



At present it is scarcely seen east of the Mississippi, and 

 south of the St. Lawrence. Governor Cass' party found, 

 in 1819, buffaloes on the east side of the Mississippi, above 

 the falls of St. Anthony. Every year this animal's rovings 



♦ Vol. II. p. 325. 

 Vol. II. 5 



