THE BUFFALO OR BISON 127 
Northwest Mounted Police into the buffalo country was in- 
augurated, and some resident hunters were engaged as 
special constables. 
In 1909 Cerporal Mellor of the R. N. W. M. Police, en- 
gaged on a patrol into the buffalo country southwest of 
Smith Landing, “‘found buffalo tracks very numerous at 
Beaver Lake and also on Big Salt Prairie, at Hay Lake and 
about Peace Point.’’ In the district named, Corporal Mel- 
lor was able to get within five yards of a band of about 
seventy-five buffalo and obtained a good look at them. 
He says in his report: ‘‘Owing to the fact that many of 
them were hidden from view in the bush, I was unable to 
count them correctly. Those nearest to view were nine 
large bulls, all splendid animals and rolling [in| fat. I saw 
only four calves in the band although there may have been 
more in the bush, but the guide, after examining the tracks, 
told me that there were no more. .. .” 
In the summer of 1910 Sergeant Mellor, accompanied by 
Constable Johnson, ascended Big Buffalo River from Sul- 
phur Point on Great Slave Lake to Buffalo Lake. The main 
object was to determine as far as possible the northern 
boundary of the wood-bison habitat. As a result of this 
exploration Sergeant Mellor concludes that the wood bison 
never range as far as Buffalo Lake, nor across the Caribou 
- Hills, neither do they reach Great Slave Lake at any point; 
on the other hand, they come close to Slave River from a 
point about fifty miles below Fort Smith, right up to Peace 
River, and also reach Peace River, at any rate as far as 
Jackfish River. Their habitat would therefore appear, he 
says, to be bounded on the west by the Caribou Mountains, 
on the south by Peace River, on the east by Slave River, 
and on the north by an imaginary line drawn from Caribou 
Mountains on the west to Slave River on the east, touching 
the latter at about Point Ennuyeuse, and the former about 
fifty miles south by Buffalo Lake. The buffalo have, so far 
