98 



THE ameeica:^ bisoj^s. 



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of manj of the hunting-camps of the savages. We found the footsteps of six 

 or eight buffaloes hereabouts, so plain as to be convinced of the track being 



r 



made by those animals."* Professor Baird, in 1852, says, " Theuet, in the 

 very rare work entitled ^Les Singularitez de la France antarctique/ Paris, 

 1557 [1558], gives (p. 147), in a representation of a curious beast of West 

 Florida, a readily recognizable figure of the buffalo." t The figure bears 

 some resemblance to a bison, and the description seems to clearly indicate 

 this animal. The locality, too, is near Palm Eiver, south of Tampa Bay. 

 Thevet's work, however, is merely a compilation, abounding with the gross- 



/ 



est exaggerations.. He cites no authority for the presence of '^'tme espeee de 

 grands toiireaiix " at this locality, where certainly no bison has ever been 

 found. Maynard, writing in 1872, says, "The historians of De Soto's travels 

 speak of herds of wild cattle being found in Florida. They pi-obably refer 

 to the buffalo {Bos americamis) ^ which without doubt extended its range to 

 the prairies of the west coast." % None of the references to the buffalo 

 contained in these writings relate, however, to the present region of Flor- 

 ida,^ De Soto not apparently hearing of the existence of this animal until 



> 



he had reached the Mississippi, except in the single instance soon to be 



noticed in another connection. 



The late Professor Wyman, in a posthumous paj)er, also says, "The buffalo 

 was an inhabitant of Florida, and it could have been no other than this ani- 



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mal which the French met with in their ill-fated retreat from Fort Caroline"; 

 and he adds in a footnote : "De Challeux, the carpenter of Kibaut's expedi- 

 tion, says, ^near the break of day Ave saw a great beast, like a deer, at fifty 

 paces from us, who had a great head, eyes flaming, the ears hanging, and 

 the huger parts elevated. It seemed to us monstrous because of its gleam- 

 ing eyes, wonderfidly large, but it did not come near us to do us any harm.' 

 There is no other animal," adds Professor Wyman, " which corresponds wdth 

 this animal but the buffalo, though that animal is as unlike 'a deer' as pos- 

 sible." || It seems to me, however, that the reference is in no way applicable 

 to the buffalo, and if not really a deer, the beast here described must have 



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* A Concise Natara! History of East and West Florida, pp. 280, 281. 



t Patent Off. Eep., Agricult., 1851-52, Part IT, p. 124. - 



X Bull. Essex Institute, Vol IV, p. 149. 



§ Schoolcraft says that the distinction between the former and present boundaries of Florida " is over- 

 looked, in reference to the buffalo in Florida, by the translator of De Soto's first letter." — ///.s-^or?/, Con- 

 dition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes, etc., Part V, p. 68, footnote. 



11 Fresh- Water Shell Mounds of the St. John's Eiver, Florida, p. 80, and footnote, December, 1875. 





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