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THE AMEMCAN BISONS. 



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They were also found in immense herds on the coast of Texas^ at the 

 Bay of St. Bernard (Matagorda Bay), and on the lower part of the Colorado 

 (Rio Grande^ according to some authorities), by La Salle, in 1685; and thence 

 northward across the Colorado, Brazos, and Trinity Rivers. Joutelsays that 

 when in latitude 28° 51^, "the sight of abundance of goats and bullocks, 

 dilBfering in shape from ours, and running along the coast, heightened our 

 earnestness to be ashore."* They afterwards landed in St. Louis Bay (now 

 called Matagorda Bay), where they found buffaloes in such numbers on the 

 Colorado River that they called it La Riviere aux Boeufs. " These bul- 

 locks/' says the account, ^^'are very like ours; there are thousands of them, 

 but instead of hair they have a very long curled sort of wool." f 



In describing the country about their establishment at St. Louis, at the 

 mouth of the Riviere aux Boeufs, M. Joutel says: "We were in about the 

 27th degree of north latitude, t two leagues up the country, near the bay of 

 St. Louis,§ and the bank of the Riviere aux Boeufs, on a little hillock, whence 

 we discovered vast and beautiful plains, extending very far westward, all 

 level, and full of greens, which afford pasture to an infinite number of beeves 

 and other creatures.'' || . Setting, out from St. Louis the 12th of January, 

 1687, they crossed a succession of rivers, between which were '^spacious 

 plains" covered with ^-a multitude of beeves and wild fowl." In crossing 

 the streams, they were often guided by the buffalo paths to the best fords. 

 They crossed the Colorado, called by tlicm La Maligne^ probably near the 

 present site of Austm, and the Brazos probably somewhat below Fort Gra- 

 ham. Before they reached the Trinity, the country had become more bar- 

 i^en, and buffaloes had become scarcer. Here M. de la Salle was assassinated, 

 and a portion of his party under M. Cavelier, his brother, continued their 

 northward march, soon reaching the Trinity River. From the Trinity they 

 took a northeasterly course, crossing the Red River near the mouth of the 

 Sulphur Fork, and bore thence more easterly, crossing the Wachita and 

 reaching the Arkansas, which they struck near its mouth. During this 

 journey from the Trinity to the niouth of the Arkansas, they seem to have 



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* JouteFs Historical Journal of Monsieur de la Salle's last voyage to discover the Mississippi River, 

 French's Hist. Coll. Louisiana, Part I, p. 98. 

 t Ibid., p. 116. 

 X The latitude here given is obviously erroneous, as the context and subsequent account of their jour- 



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ney northward clearly shows. The latitude must have been nearly 29° instead of 27°. 

 § Later called Bay of St. Bernard, which is the same as the present Matagorda Bay. 

 II Joutel's Journal, French's Hist. Coll. Louisiana, Part I, pp. 120, 121. 



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