()90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxviii. 



inland Kskiiiios), und Fort (Ihurchill (from the TTvidsori Buy Eskimos), 

 it is only in iH-cciit years, liowcxcr, lluil tlic (•om})any lias stronfj-ly 

 cncou raided liic Iniiitino' of musk oxen, and alliioiiiili tlicrc is no roo- 

 oi'd of the Side of any in tlio London Statement, I8i5l-] and 1877, yet we 

 now Ivnow that a immber of ptdts were occasionally, if not annually, 

 traded at Forts C'luu-chill and Anderson, at least subsequent to 1860, 

 and that they must ha\-e sold there or in Montreal (the British com- 

 ])aiiy"s market for butfalo robes), as the statement of the northern 

 department fur-returns for outfit 18ti5, printed herewith (p. 750), 

 shows that the districts of Mackenzie River and York, Hudson Ba}', 

 collected 25 and GO musk-ox skins, respectively, in that year. During 

 the last thirty years, the Indians and Eskimos have devoted more 

 attention than before to the hiuiting- of this valuable animal. In 1902, 

 271 skins and in l!H)o, 240 skins wtu'e exposed for sale, and the average 

 for the past twenty years probably ranged between 200 and 250 pelts. 

 The greater portion of those secured l)y the company are ])urchasetl in 

 London and reshipped to, and used in Canada and the United States, 

 chiefly as sleigh and cutter winter robes. In his Explorations in the 

 Far North, Dr. Fraidv Russell, of the Iowa State University, has gixen 

 a \ery interesting account of his successful ett'orts in hunting the musk 

 ox in the Fort Rae Indian coimtry. His other experiences in the ter- 

 ritories of Canada are well worthy of perusal, while his services to 

 science reflect much credit on hims(df and his alma mater. Mr, Cas- 

 par Whitney's achievements in the pursuit of the musk ox, under the 

 unfavorable conditions as narrated in his pu1)lished volume, also 

 deserve commendation. 



WOODLAND BUFFALO. 



Bison liisoii at}taha)<c:i- KhoadH. 



This ^'ariety of the American bison was fairly numerous when I 

 flrst went noi'th to Mackenzie River in 1S53, but it has sincc^ giadually 

 diminished in mnnl)ers in the Athabasca district, and its utter exter- 

 mination is now oidy a (piestion of time, unless restrictive hunting rules 

 are adopted without delay. When Thomas Simpson, the celebratinl 

 arctic explorer, traveled down the valley of the Clearwater River in 

 January, 1887, traces of bufl'alo were quite abundant, but for the last 

 forty years they have practically forsaken that (juarter and ha\'e dwin- 

 dled so greatly in mmd)er that oidy a few individuals are now to be 

 met with in o|)en sj)aces and patches of prairie in sections on the west 

 side of the Athabascta River, betweiMi Fort McMurray and the Birch 

 Mountain, as well as in similar tracts of country from Pointe a la Paix 

 on the lower Peace to the plains of Salt River in latitude OO north, 

 which had from time innnemorial been regularly frequented and occu- 

 pied ])y hordes of ))is()n. At the end of the eighteenth and in the earlier 

 part of the nineteenth century, bufl'alo were abundant on the upper 



