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II 



APPENDIX. 



225 



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\iffaloe> 



On pages 85 to 87 evidence is 



cited in proof of the former occurrence of the buffalo on the sources of the 

 James. My attention has since been called by Mr. Geo. Graham to the fol- 

 lowing passage in Watson's ^^ Annals of Philadelphia " :* ^^The latest mention 

 of buffaloes nearest to our region of country is mentioned in 1730, when 

 a. gentleman from the Shanaddre^ Va.^ saw there a buffalo killed of 1,400 

 pounds, and several others came in a drove at the same time." This was 

 probably a wandering herd from the region of the Upper James Eiver, 

 where, as already shown, they at that time existed. 



A ^^Buffalo Creek'' in Southern Georgia. — As will be presently noticed, the 

 buffalo extended, about 1720 to 1750, considerably to the southward, in the 

 States of Mississippi and Louisiana, of its range at the time De Soto and 

 La Salle traversed these States. Catesby also found the buffalo on the 

 Upper Savannah River, about ^^Fort Moore," in 1754, while Bartram refers to 



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the existence, in 1774, of a locality known as '^ Great Buffalo Lick" on the 

 divide between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers, — a region well known 

 to have been traversed by De Soto and others, one hundred to two hundred 

 and thirty years "earlier, and who did not either meet with or hear anything 

 of the existence of buffaloes anj'^where in that section of the country. In 

 the extreme southeastern part of Georgia (Camden County), however, 

 there is found a small creek emptying into the Santilla River, at its great 

 bend to the eastward, wdiich still bears the name of "Buffalo Creek." If this 

 is to be taken as sufficient proof of the former presence there of buffaloes, 

 it ma}^ imply that the region was casually visited by a roving band of buffa- 

 loes from the region northward some time probably between the years 1700 



and 1770. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries this region was 

 traversed by several different explorers, who, as is evident from their wait- 

 ings, did not meet with or hear of buffaloes here. It is, however, quite 

 possible that subsequently buffaloes may have occasionally wandered to 



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Southeastern Georgia, and even to portions of Florida. In all other cases 

 the name "Buffalo Creek" proves to have had its origin in the former 

 presence of buffaloes in the vicinity of the streams so named. 



While it is certain that many of the allusions to the existence of the 

 buffalo in Florida do not refer to the present area of Florida, it is possible 

 that some of the later ones already discussed (see pages 97-101) may refer 

 to a brief occupation of portions of that State by this animal during the 



* Fa^e 6 74 o£ the edition of 1830; Vol. II, p. 431, of the later edition. 







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