THE BUFFALO AND HIS FATE. 161 



ably imply that this animal once extended its travels to 

 that point. All the supposed references to its being seen 

 on the St. Lawrence, or in Canada West, turn out to mean 

 the elk the same indefinite terms being often used for 

 both by early writers or else to apply to some part of the 

 broad territory then called Canada, but not now included 

 within its limits. Changes in political boundaries have 

 constantly to be borne in rnind in studying ancient nar- 

 ratives. 



Furthermore, no remains of the bison have been found 

 among the bones in the shell-heaps along the Atlantic coast, 

 and there is no unquestionable evidence, among all the 

 early lists of the natural products of the country, of its oc- 

 currence anywhere on the seaboard north of the Potomac 

 for a long period preceding the discovery of the continent 

 by Europeans. The only well -authenticated instances of 

 its being found east of the Blue Ridge are the apparently 

 casual passage of small herds through the mountains from 

 West Virginia into the upper parts of North and South 

 Carolina by way of the New, Holston, and French Broad 

 rivers. They seem to have been common on the savannahs 

 about the heads of rivers in the western parts of those 

 states ; but it is well attested that they never came down 



to the sea -coast. Nor can good evidence be shown that 



11 



