260 BISON PATHS. 



the grassy deserts of Asia, set fire to the plains in 

 order to attract herbivorous animals, by the growth 

 of tender and nutritious herbage which springs up 

 after the burning these annual conflagrations fre- 

 quently occur; trees are consequently destroyed, and 

 the forests being thus broken, the growth of grasses 

 and annual plants is greatly facilitated by the rich- 

 ness of the soil, and the free admission of the sun's 

 rays. 



In these extensive and fertile meadows, bison- 

 paths are as frequent and almost as conspicuous as 

 the roads in the most populous parts of the United 

 States. They converge in all directions to the 

 places where water is to be found, and by following 

 their guidance travellers are led to the spot, where 

 a small spring often drips from the side of a 

 sandstone cliff. It was sunny weather while Dr. 

 James and his party pursued their w r ay to the Rocky 

 Mountains, and the bisons were in their summer 

 coats. At this period they are less terrific than 

 when clothed in long shaggy winter vestments, but 

 still their physiognomy is menacing and ferocious, 

 and their whole appearance formidable; he who 

 first sees them in their native wilds, must be en- 

 dowed with no ordinary courage if he does not 

 shrink at their approach. Their eyes are small and 

 piercing, and the head and front is so thickly 

 guarded with a dense mass of hair, as to deaden the 

 force of a rifle- ball, which often rebounds from the 

 forehead, or lodges in the long shaggy curls, and 

 causes the bison to shake .his head as he bounds 

 heavily forward. 



The animals common to the prairies were once 



