196 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 



horizons, like mocking spectres. Such is the arena of 

 sport, and such in quantity, is the game. 



To the wild Indian, the buffalo hunt awakens the 

 soul as absorbingly as does the defying yell on the war- 

 path. With inflated nostril and distended eye, he 

 dashes after his victim, revelling in the fruition of all 

 the best hopes of his existence, and growing in the con- 

 ceit of his favor with the " Great Spirit." 



To the rude, white hunter, less imaginative than the 

 savage ; the buffalo hunt is the high consummation of his 

 propensity and power to destroy. It gratifies his am- 

 bition, and feasts his appetite ; his work is tangible ; 

 he feels — hears — tastes — and sees it ; it is the very un- 

 loosing of all the rough passions of our nature, with the 

 conscience entirely at rest. 



To the " sportsman," who is matured in the con- 

 straint of cities, and in the artificial modes of enlighten- 

 ed society, and who retains within his bosom the leaven 

 of our coarser nature, the buffalo hunt stirs up the la- 

 tent fires repressed by a whole life ; they break out with 

 ardor, and he enters into the chase with an abandonment, 

 which, while it gratifies every animal sense possessed by 

 the savage and hunter, opens a thousand other avenues 

 of high enjoyment, known only to the cultivated and re- 

 fined mind. 



Among the Indians there are but few methods of 

 hunting the buffalo ; yet there are tribes who display 

 more skill than others, and seem to bring more intellect 



