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THE AMERICAN BISONS. 



65 



some insects. When not finding a muddy pool ready at hand, an old bull 

 proceeds to prepare one. Finding in the low parts of the prairies, says Cat- 

 lin, who has described the process with considerable detail,*" a little stas-nant 

 water amongst the grass, and the ground underneath soft and saturated with 

 moisture, an old bull lowers himself upon one knee, plunges his horns into 



the ground^ throwing up the earth and soon making an excavation into 



-. 



which the water trickles, forming for him in a short time a cool and com- 

 fortable bath, in which he wallows ^Mike a hog in the mire." In this "de- 

 lectable laver" he throws himself flat upon his side, and then, forcing himself 

 violently around with his horns, his feet, and his huge hump, ploughs up the 

 ground still more, thus enlarging his pool till he at length becomes nearly 

 immersed. Besmeared with a coating of the pasty mixture, he at length 

 rises, changed into ^^a monster of mud and ugliness," with the black mud 

 dripping from his shaggy mane and thick woolly coat. The mud soon dry- 

 ing upon his body forms a covering that insures him immunity for hours 

 from the attacks of insects. Others follow in succession, having waited their 

 turns to enjoy the luxury ; each rolls and wallows in a similar way, adding 

 a little to the dimensions of the hole, and carrying away a share of the ad- 

 hesive mud. By this means an excavation is eventually made having a 

 diameter of fifteen or twenty feet, and two feet in depth. These wallows 

 thus become characteristic marks of a buffalo country, outlasting even the 

 ordinary trails, while their effect upon the country is much more marked, 

 rank vegetation growing about their borders and serving to indicate their 



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positions when quite distant. 



The buffaloes, however, do not always choose moist places in which to roll, 

 and are quite content with wallowing in the dust when mud-and-water wal- 

 lows are not conveniently at hand ; wherever, in short, large herds have 

 grazed, hollows formed by their indulgence in this propensity are of very 

 frequent occurrence. These circular depressions, which are also usually 

 called " wallows," are of smaller size than the water wallows, being eight to 

 ten or twelve feet or more in diameter, and a few inches to upwards of a 

 foot in depth. These also are not effaced by natural agencies for many 

 years, and hence remain as lasting evidence of the former existence of popu- 

 lous herds of buffaloes at the localities where these old "wallows" are found. 

 Owing to the impervious nature of the clayey soil that generally character- 

 izes the Plains, these hollows temporarily retain the water that collects in 



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* Nortli American Indians, Vol. I^ p. 241. 



