BUFFALO HUNTING. 201 



along, and more than rivalling the beauty, of the eques- 

 trians portrayed upon the Elgin marbles. 



Then there may be seen dashing oflf with incredible 

 swiftness, a living representation of the centaur ; — and 

 as one of these wild horses and wilder men, viewed from 

 below, stand in broad relief against the clear sky, you 

 see an equestrian statue that art has never equalled. 



The exultation of such a warrior, in the excitement 

 of a buffalo hunt, rings in silvery tones across the plain, 

 as if in his lungs was the music of a " well chosen 

 pack ; "' the huge victims of pursuit, as they hear it, im- 

 pel onwards with redoubled speed, — they feel that a 

 hurricane of death is in the cry. 



Take a hunting-party of fifty "warriors," starting on 

 a buflfalo hunt. Imagine a splendid fall morning in the 

 southern part of the buffalo " grounds." 



The sun rises over the prairie, like a huge illumi- 

 nated ball ; it struggles on through the mists, growing 

 gradually brighter in its ascent, breaking its way into 

 the clear atmosphere in long-reaching rays, dispelling 

 the mists in wreathing columns, and starting up cur- 

 rents of air to move them sportively about ; slowly they 

 ascend and are lost in the ether above. 



You discover before you, and under you, a rich and 



beautifully variegated carpet, enamelled by a thousand 



flowers, glistening with the pearly drops of dew, as the 



horizontal rays of the sun reach them. 



Here and there are plants of higher growth, as if 

 9* 



