American Big-Game Hunting 



curious stories of such accidents are told by 

 the few surviving old-timers whose memory- 

 goes back fifty years, to the time when flint- 

 lock guns were in use. A mere fall from 

 a horse is lightly regarded by the practised 

 rider ; the danger to be feared is that in such 

 a fall the horse may roll on the man and 

 crush him. Even more serious accidents 

 occurred when a man fell upon some part 

 of his equipment, which was driven through 

 his body. Hunters have fallen in such a way 

 that their whip-stocks, arrows, bows, and even 

 guns, have been driven through their bodies. 

 The old flint-lock guns, or "fukes," which 

 were loaded on the run, with powder poured 

 in from the horn by guess, and a ball from 

 the mouth, used frequently to burst, causing 

 the loss of hands, arms, and even lives. 



While most of the deaths which occurred 

 in the chase resulted from causes other than 

 the resistance of the buffalo, these did oc- 

 casionally kill a man. A curious accident 

 happened in a camp of Red River half-breeds 

 in the early seventies. The son of an Iroquois 

 half-breed, about twenty years old, went out 

 one day with the rest of the camp to run 

 196 



