f : 



226 



THE AMEEICAIi BISOIS^S. 



early part of the eigliteeiitli century. That it was not there earlier seem: 

 to me fully evident^ and that if it was ever found there it must have existed 

 there at a comparatively recent date and for only a very short period. As 

 already stated (see page 101), I have met with no writer who claims to 

 have himself seen buffaloes within the present limits of Florida, though if 

 it ever occurred there an unquestionable record of the fact will yet doubt- 

 less be found. 



The Buffalo in Mississippi — On pages 102 and 115 I state that I had been 

 unable to find any evidence of the former existence of the buffalo south 

 of the Tennessee Eiver^ and the statement of Du Pratz that the Indians of 

 Lower Louisiana leave that country in winter to hunt the buffalo is cited in 

 proof of its supposed absence from that region.. Du Pratz's statement in full 

 on this point is as follows : " This buffalo is the chief food of the natives, and of 



the French also for a long time past They hunt this animal in winter 5 for 



which purpose they leave Loioer Louisiana and the river Missisipi^ as he can- 

 not penetrate thither on account of the thickness of the w^oods; and besides 

 loves to feed on long grass, which is only to be found in the meadows of the 

 high lands." ^ This notice appears in the chapter devoted to an account of 

 the quadrupeds of Louisiana, and being misled by the import of the, term 

 Zotuer Louisiana, v^hich at that time was generally apphed to all the Lower 

 Mississippi country, or that portion south of the o5th parallel, and by the 

 feet of the almost unquestionable absence of the buffalo from the country 

 south of the Tennessee at the time De Soto crossed this region in 1539 and 

 1540, I inadvertently omitted to examine with due care the earlier portions 

 of Du Pratz's work. My attention, however, has since been kindly directed 

 (by my friend, Mr. L. Carr) to other reference by Du Pratz to the buffalo as 

 a former inhabitant of a considerable portion of the present State of Mis- 

 sissippi. In his detailed account of the ^' Lands of Louisiana" Du Pratz 

 says : " From the sources of the river of the PasJm Ogoiilas^ quite to those 

 of the river of QiiesoneU^ which falls into the Lake >S'/. Loitis^ the lands are 

 light and sterile, but something gravelly, on account of the neighborhood 



w 



of the mountains, that lye to the North. This country is intcrmixt wd 



extensive hills, fine meadows, numbers of thickets, and sometimes woods, 



r 



* The History o£ Louisiana, etc., Englisli Ed., Vol. II, p. 49. Tlie original reads as follows : " Ce 



Boeuf est la viande principale des JSTaturelSj & a fait long-tems aussi celle des Francois On va a 



la chasse de cet Animal dans I'hyver, &.on s'ccarte de la Basse Louisiane & du Fleuve S. Louis, puree 

 qu'il ne peut j penetrer, a cause de Fepaisseur des Bois, & que d'ailleurs il aime la grande lierbc qui ne se 

 trouvc que dans les Prairies des terres liautes." — Ilisloire de la Louisiane^ etc, Tom. II, p. 67. 



_ rjrv— 



