782 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



In regard to its former numerical abundance, Mr. Hornaday* ob- 

 Numbers and serves t h a t ' ' of all the quadrupeds that have ever lived upon the 

 earth, probably no other species has ever marshaled such innumerable 

 hosts as those of the American bison. It would have been as easy to 

 count or to estimate the number of leaves in a forest as to calculate the number of 

 bison living at any given time during the history of the species previous to 1870. 

 Even in South Central Africa, which has been exceedingly prolific in great herds of 

 game, it is probable that all its quadrupeds taken together on an equal area would 

 never have more than equaled the total number of buffaloes in this country forty years 

 ago." As an instance of these enormous numbers, it appears that, in the early part 

 of the year 1871, Colonel Dodge, when passing through the great herd on the 

 Arkansas, and reckoning that there were some fifteen or twenty individuals to the 

 acre, states from his own observation that it was not less than twenty-five miles 

 wide and fifty miles deep. This, however, was the last of the great herds; and Mr. 

 Hornaday estimates that the number of individuals comprising it could not be 

 reckoned at less than four millions. Many writers at and about the date mentioned 

 speak of the plains being absolutely black with bison as far as the eye could 

 reach; and Mr. W. Blackmore tells of passing through a herd for a distance of 

 upward of one hundred and twenty miles right on end, in traveling on the 

 Kansas Pacific Railroad. Frequently, indeed, trains on that line were derailed 

 in attempting to pass through herds of bison, until the drivers learned it was 

 advisable to bring their engines to a standstill when they found the line blocked in 

 this manner. 



Colonel Dodge, writing of his experiences on the Arkansas alluded to above, 

 observes that " the whole country appeared one great mass of bison, moving slowly 

 to the northward; and it was only when actually among them that it could be ascer- 

 tained that the apparently solid mass was an agglomeration of numerous small herds, 

 of from fifty to two hundred animals, separated from the surrounding herds by 

 greater or less space, but still separated. The bison on the hills, seeing an unusual 

 object in their rear, started at full speed directly toward me, stampeding and bring- 

 ing with them the numberless herds through which they passed, and pouting down 

 upon all the herds, no longer separated, but one immense, compact mass of plung- 

 ing animals." 



Many similar accounts attesting the vast swarms of bison which formerly roamed 

 the prairies might be quoted, but the foregoing are sufficient for our purpose. Evi- 

 dence of the numbers of these animals is still to be seen in the huge stacks of skulls 

 piled up at many of the railway stations awaiting transport. 



The main cause which led to the extirpation of the bison was the advance of 

 railways. With the progress of civilization the bison was, indeed, foredoomed to 

 disappear; but its end was hastened by the reckless way in which the unfortunate 

 animals were shot for the sake of their hides or tongues; by the want of protective 

 legislation on the part of the Government; by the preference for the flesh and skin 

 of cows, by the marvelous stupidity and indifference to man of the animals them- 

 selves, and by the perfection of modern firearms. 



* When quoting from Mr. Hornaday and other writers we have substituted the word bison for buffalo. 



