American Big-Game Hunting 
herds had been broken up and scattered, and 
the miserable survivors had been so chased 
and harried that at last they learned to start 
and run even at their own shadows. 
Another peculiarity of the buffalo was its 
habit, when stampeded, of dashing blindly 
forward against, over, or through anything 
that might be in the way. When running, a 
herd of buffalo followed its leaders, and yet 
these leaders lost the power of stopping, or 
even of turning aside, because they were con- 
stantly crowded upon and pushed forward 
by those behind. This explains why herds 
would dash into mire or quicksands, as they 
often did, and thus perish by the thousand. 
Those in front could not stop, while those be- 
hind could not see the danger toward which 
they were rushing. So, too, they ran into 
rivers, or into traps made for them by the 
Indians, or against railroad cars, or even 
dashed into the rivers and swam blindly 
against the sides of steamboats. If an ob- 
stacle lay squarely across their path, they 
tried to go through it, but if it lay at an angle 
to their course, they would turn a little to 
follow it, as will be shown further on. 
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