The Bison or American Buffalo. 245 



march was hard and tedious ; they lost their way and were 

 in jeopardy from quicksands and cloudbursts ; they suf- 

 fered from thirst and cold, their shoes gave out, and their 

 feet were lamed by cactus spines. At last they reached 

 Fort Griffen in safety, and great was their ravenous re- 

 joicing when they procured some bread — for during the 

 final fortnight of the hunt they had»been without flour or 

 vegetables of any kind, or even coffee, and had subsisted 

 on fresh meat " straight," Nevertheless, it was a very 

 healthy, as well as a very pleasant and exciting experience ; 

 and I doubt if any of those who took part in it will ever 

 forget their great buffalo-hunt on the Brazos. 



My friend. Gen. W. H. Walker, of Virginia, had an 

 experience in the early '50's with buffaloes on the upper 

 Arkansas River, which gives some idea of their enormous 

 numbers at that time. He was camped with a scouting 

 party on the banks of the river, and had gone out to try to 

 shoot some meat. There were many buffaloes in sight, 

 scattered, according to their custom, in large bands. When 

 he was a mile or two away from the river a dull roaring 

 sound in the distance attracted his attention, and he saw 

 that a herd of buffalo far to the south, away from the river, 

 had been stampeded and was running his way. He knew 

 that if he was caught in the open by the stampeded herd 

 his chance for life would be small, and at once ran for the 

 river. By desperate efforts he reached the breaks in the 

 sheer banks just as the buffaloes reached them, and got 

 into a position of safety on the pinnacle of a little bluff. 

 From this point of vantage he could see the entire plain. 

 To the very verge of the horizon the brown masses of the 



