THE AMERICAN BISON. 29 



guns in their hands ; but I had carefully reloaded mine, 

 and had it ready for use. Throwing myself down close 

 to the body of the cow, and behind it, I waited till the 

 other came up within a few yards of the carcase, when I 

 fired upon her; she turned, gave one or two jumps, and 

 fell dead. We had now the meat of two fat cows, which 

 was as much as we wanted; accordingly we repaired, 

 without delay, to the appointed place, where we found our 

 party, whose hunger was already somewhat allayed by a 

 deer one of them had killed/' 



In hunting the Bison, the spear and the arrow are still 

 much in use among the Indians. The following sketch 

 (after Catlin) represents an Indian in the act of shooting 

 a Bison with the arrow : 



In the 'Letters and Notes on the North- American 

 Indians/ by Catlin, there are a great many interesting 

 details of the Bison (or Buffalo, as it is there called). 



" Six days of severe travelling have brought us from 

 the Camanchee village to the north bank of the Canadian, 

 where we are snugly encamped on a beautiful plain, and in 

 the midst of countless numbers of buffaloes ; and halting 

 a few days to recruit our horses and men, and dry meat 

 to last us the remainder of our journey. 



