BUFFALO HUNTING. 203 



They have sent up their war-cry in one united whoop, 

 which has startled the feeding monsters, as if the light- 

 ning had fallen among them. With a bellowing re- 

 sponse the buflfalo shake their heads, and simultaneously 

 start oflf. 



The fearful whoop meets them at every point. Con- 

 fusion seizes upon the herd. The sport has begun. 



In every direction you sec the unequal chase ; the 

 Indians seem multiplied into hundreds ; the plain be- 

 comes dotted over with the dying animals, and the whoop 

 rings in continuous shouts upon the air, as if the fiends 

 themselves were loose. 



Now you see a single warrior : before him is rushing 

 a buflfalo, which shows from his immense size, that he 

 is one of the masters of the herd ; his pursuer is a 

 veteran hunter, known far and near for his prowess. 



Yonder go some twenty buffalos of every size, pur- 

 sued by three or four tyros, who yet know not the art of 

 separating their victim from the herd. 



Yonder goes a bull, twice shot at, yet only wounded 

 in the flesh — some one will havi' to iratlier wood with 

 the women for his want of skill. 



There goes an old chief: his leggins are trimmed 

 with the hair of twenty scalps, taken from the heads of 

 the very Indians on whose grounds he was hunting buf- 

 falo ; he is a great warrior ; he sings, that his bow un- 

 bent is a great tree, which he alone can bend. See the 

 naked arm, and the rigid muscles, as he draws the arrow 



