HERDS OF BISONS. 257 



tinually coming into view, the country along the 

 Platte was animated by herds of deer and badgers, 

 hares and wolves, eagles, buzzards, owls, and ravens; 

 and these, with an endless variety of rare and in- 

 teresting plants, relieved, in a great degree, the 

 uniformity of its cheerless scenery. 



The country seemed, indeed, to be filled with a 

 greater number of animals than its productions were 

 able to support. It was manifest that the bisons, 

 then daily thronging in such numbers, were moving 

 towards the south. Experience may have taught 

 them to repair at certain seasons to the luxuriant 

 plains of Arkansa and Red River, but strange it 

 seems that they should return to the regions of the 

 Platte. Wherever the troops moved, their at- 

 tendants failed not to follow, gangs of meagre 

 famine-pinched wolves and flights of ravenous 

 birds. 



In riding through the same dreary and yet in- 

 teresting land, it was amusing to observe the move- 

 ments of the various animals by which the narrators 

 were surrounded. As the wind blew fresh from 

 the south, and their scent was borne directly across 

 the Platte, they could distinctly note its progress 

 over a distance of eight or ten miles, by the con- 

 sternation and terror which it excited among the 

 buffaloes. The moment the gale reached them, 

 away they ran with as much violence as if pursued 

 by a party of mounted hunters, and instead of has- 

 tening from the danger, they turned their heads 

 towards the wind; eager to escape from the terri- 

 fying scent, they pushed forward in an oblique 

 direction towards the party, and, plunging into the 



