268 BULLETIN NO VII. 
places the animals were impounded and destroyed at leisure. 
The pound was an enclosed area about 125 feet in diameter, 
formed by posts planted at reguiar intervals, guarded by the 
women and children of the tribe. Series of posts diverged 
from the opening and served to direct the herd toward the 
latter. Several hundred buffaloes were frequently enclosed 
when the slaughter began. Deprived of even the usual degree 
of intelligence by fear, the enraged animals assisted in their own 
destruction, though in some cases an unusually adventurous 
bull forced an opening and led the whole herd safely through 
the cordon of yelling savages. 
Another method, rather rarely resorted to, was to take 
advantage of their stupid tendency to follow the leader 
and lure the whole herd to destruction. An Indian dis- 
euised himself with a partially stuffed skin and, attaching 
himself to the herd just as the alarm was given on the other side, 
led the way to a precipice. There he secreted himself in a 
crevice, while the buffalo following were precipitated to the 
bottom. This method naturally was attended with no little 
danger to the one leading in it. Since the introduction of 
horses sometimes a cordon of horsemen was substituted for the 
pen with nearly equally fatal results. The more modern 
method is for a number of well mounted horsemen to strike 
well into the centre of the compact herd and thus stampede 
them, after which an indiscriminate slaughter is carried on as 
long as the scattering animals can be pursued. The modern 
hunter follows the same plan essentially but improved firearms 
and better horses make it a much more destructive matter. 
As long as the buffalo still roamed over the plains of Kansas 
and the Red river, buffalo-hunting was a business as well as a 
pastime for many. The pot-hunter however preferred the 
still hunt as more safe and productive. Buffalo-hunting has 
always been most wasteful. The excitement is so great that 
neither reason nor fatigue reminds even the thoughtful that 
his sport is sheer improvidence until the last individual is 
out of reach. The Indian rarely used a tithe of the slain ani- 
mals and modern hunters have not been less extravagant. One 
man often destroyed thousands during a single season. Mr. 
Allen in his monograph gives very full statistics of the rate of 
destruction of the buffalo. He says ‘‘at the time of the com- 
pletion of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé railroad to Dodge 
City, which occurred Sept. 23, 1872, the principal trade of the 
town consisted in the outfitting of hunters and exchange for 
