BUFFALO HUNTlNfi. 200 



that for expression would have done credit to rival 

 belles, we lounged upon the skins upon the ground. 



It is needless for us to say what were our ideas of 

 the " men," soon to make their appearance. Buflfalo 

 hunters were, of course, tall, fine-looking fellows — active 

 as cats — mounted upon wild steeds — armed with terri 

 ble rifles, and all the paraphernalia of the hunter's art. 



The Dutch angels, that figure so conspicuously on 

 many a gem of art in the '' Lowlands," are certainly not 

 farther removed from the beautiful creations of Milton, 

 than were the buffalo hunters that we saw from the 

 standard our imagination and reading had conjured up. 



Two short, ill-formed men finally appeared, whose 

 bow-legs, formidable shocks of red hair, clothes of skin, 

 and shuflfling gaits, were the realities of our poetical 

 conceptions. 



Whatever might have been the charms of their faces, 

 our admiration was absorbed in viewing their nether 

 garments. They were made of undressed deer-skin, the 

 hair worn outside. When first made, they were evi- 

 dently of the length of pantaloons, but the drying quali- 

 ties of the sun had, in course of time, no doubt imper- 

 ceptibly to the wearers, shortened them into the dignity 

 of brtechos. To see these worthies standing up was be- 

 yond comparison ridiculous. They seemed to have had 

 immense pommels fastened to their knees and seats. 



Under other circumstances, the tailor craft of the 

 frontier would have elicited great merriment ; but a 



