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THE AMERICAN BIS0:N'S. 



In the narrative of the travels of David Ingram from the Gulf of Mexico 

 to Cape Breton, in Nova Scotia, made in 1568 - 69, are unquestionable ref- 

 erences to the buffalo, which have been referred to as possible evidence of 

 its existence on the Atlantic slope, but the whole narrative is full of exagger- 

 ations and fanciful descriptions of mythical things and scenes, while the 

 localities are wholly vague. The account speaks, for instance, of " great 

 plentye of Buifes . . . . w^'^ are Beastes as bigge as twoe Oxen in length 

 almost twentye foote, havinge longe eares like a bludde hownde w'Mong 

 heares about there eares, ther homes be Crooked like Eames homes, ther 

 eyes blacke, there heares longe blacke, rough and bagged as a Goate, the 

 Hydes of these Beastes are solde verye deare. These Beastes doe keepe Com- 

 pany only by couples a male and a female and doe always fighte w*'' others 



of the same kynde." * 



The account also says, " He did alsoe see in that Countrye boathe Ele- 

 phantes and Uunces. He did also see one other straunge Beaste bigger 

 then a Beare, yt had nether heade nor necke, his eyes and mouthe weare in 

 his brest." It also describes "xedd Sheepe" which hved in herds of five hun- 

 dred individuals. Since Ingram's route doubtless took him through a por- 

 tion of the range of the buffalo, the above-quoted description of "Buffes" 

 may refer to that animal, but there is nothing to show that the locality was 



on the Atlantic slope. 



Champlain, as early as 1604, ascended the St. Lawrence River nearly to 

 Lake Ontario, and although he obtained from the Indians quite distinct 

 accounts of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and of the Copper Mines of Lake Su- 

 perior, he seems not to have learned anything respecting the bufUxlo. The 

 animal which he describes as the « Orignac" or "Orignal" is without doubt 

 the moose. He mentions it as an animal "which is like an Ox," t and Pur- 



the French 



chas, in his marginal notes, adds, " Orignac, a beast like an oxe." He first 

 met with it at the mouth of the Saguenay, and later encountered it among the 

 animals he found at the mouth of the Kichelieu, speaking of it as the " Orig- 

 nac," and Purchas again adds, " Orignas are before said to bee like oxen, 

 perhaps Buffes. Lescarhot, [says] that Orignacs are EUans,'' t 



* The Land Travels of David Ingram and others in the years 1568-69. From the Eio de Minas in 

 the Gulph of Mexico to Cape Breton in Acadia. Edited from the original MS. (Sloane MSS., Mus. Brit.', 

 No. 1447, ff. 1-18) by R C J. Weston, in Doc. connected with the Hist, of S. Carolina. London, 1856, 



p. 14. 



t Purchas, Pilgrims, Yol. IV, p. 1607. ■ 



X Ibid., p. 1613. 



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