250 The Lordly Buffalo. 



the comparatively few of us who would have preferred 

 the continuance of the old order of things, merely for 

 the sake of our own selfish enjoyment, have no right 

 to complain. 



The buffalo is easier killed than is any other kind of 

 plains game ; but its chase is very far from being the 

 tame amusement it has been lately represented. It is 

 genuine sport ; it needs skill, marksmanship, and hardi- 

 hood in the man who follows it, and if he hunts on horse- 

 back, it needs also pluck and good riding. It is in no 

 way akin to various forms of so-called sport in vogue 

 in parts of the East, such as killing deer in a lake or 

 by fire hunting, or even by watching at a runaway. No 

 man who is not of an adventurous temper, and able to 

 stand rough food and living, will penetrate to the haunts 

 of the buffalo. The animal is so tough and tenacious 

 of life that it must be hit in the right spot ; and care 

 must be used in approaching it, for its nose is very keen, 

 and though its sight is dull, yet, on the other hand, the 

 plains it frequents are singularly bare of cover; while, 

 finally, there is just a faint spice of danger in the pursuit, 

 for the bison, though the least dangerous of all bovine 

 animals, will, on occasions, turn upon the hunter, and 

 though its attack is, as a rule, easily avoided, yet in rare 

 cases it manages to charge home. A ranchman of my 

 acquaintance once, many years ago, went out buffalo 

 hunting on horseback, together with a friend who was 

 unused to the sport, and who was mounted on a large, un- 

 trained, nervous horse. While chasing a bull, the friend's 

 horse became unmanageable, and when the bull turned, 



