SOURCE OP ST. Peter's riveii. 33 



in shooting, are proverbial on the Mississippi and Mis- 

 souri. We had many occasions of witnessing them our- 

 selves, though the great scarcity of game of any kind ob- 

 served during the whole of the expedition, except on the 

 prairies at the head of Red river, limited his opportuni- 

 ties of displaying his rare talent. 



When we consider the great force, size, agility, and 

 speed of the buffalo, we must regret that no successful ex- 

 periment has as yet been made to domesticate this noble 

 animal, and appropriate it to the wants of man. Instead of 

 endeavouring to turn to use the many valuable animals 

 which formerly roved over our country, the settlers seem 

 to have been satisfied with importing those from Europe. 

 There can, we think, be but little doubt that the buffalo 

 might, by proper management, be domesticated, and made 

 to replace with great advantage the European Ox. We 

 have seen it, in one instance, used with apparent facility. 

 Another experiment, which would certainly be very in- 

 teresting, would be to ascertain whether the breeds might 

 not be crossed, and what would be the result. We have, it 

 is true, heard it asserted, and the impression appears to be 

 general in that countr}^, that a domestic bull had in certain 

 cases impregnated a buffalo cow, and that the produce 

 had partaken of the characters of both parents ; but that 

 a favourable issue could not be expected in the case of im- 

 pregnation of the domestic cow, by the buffalo bull, be- 

 cause the pelvis of the former being too small for the issue 

 of the calf, both the cow and her progeny would die be- 

 fore parturition. Mr. Say has endeavoured, but in vain, to 

 trace the report to its source ; having always found those 

 who related it to speak on conjecture, he is inclined to 

 doubt whether the experiment has ever been tried ; indeed 

 we were told, on Lake Winnepeek, where we sa^v a pair 



