LETTER XX. 237 



men who ought to know, is a mistake. In the 

 autumn of last year I had certain and reliable 

 information of a herd of about eighty not many 

 days' journey from Medicine Hut, and of another 

 smaller bunch in another part of the country. 

 In addition to this, there were three heads ex- 

 hibited in a naturalist's window in London this 

 spring ; the buffaloes themselves having been 

 slain last autumn by a couple of young English- 

 men, just down from Oxford. 



Some sportsman, without reproach himself, 

 will probably feel inclined to inveigh bitterly 

 against the men who secured these trophies. 

 Undoubtedly the buffalo should be preserved, 

 and he who slays more than one specimen de- 

 serves all the reproaches which can be heaped 

 upon him ; but, brother sportsman, don't you 

 feel inclined to pray with me, ' Lead me not into 

 temptation ' ? Do you think that if you or I met 

 a lonely bull, even if he was the last of his race, 

 or nearly so, we should spare him ? I believe you 

 or I would only take one if we came across a 

 herd of a thousand ; but I know that, lawfully 

 or unlawfully, I should feel terribly tempted to 

 kill 'just one.' 



From the reports current in British Columbia, 

 I have not the smallest doubt but that there are 

 still plenty of buffaloes in the Peace River country, 



