368 SKILL OF THE INDIANS. 



this vortex of men and beasts, I could only see swift 

 as lightning some incident transpiring under my very 

 eyes, applaud a skilful shot, or burn my powder like my 

 comrades. The universal rage which had seized upon us 

 blinded our eyes, and rendered us half mad. 



This wild rush, which lasted about half-an-hour, was 

 nearly concluded, when frantic cries arose in every direc- 

 tion of " The cows ! the cows !" And the horses, spurred 

 amain towards a different quarter, fell into the thick of 

 another herd consisting of more than five or six thousand 

 bisons, who had not taken flight at the noise of our first 

 skirmish. 



In the bison herds it always happens that the bulls are 

 separated from the cows ; the bulls forming an advanced 

 corps d'armee, while the others form the reserve. To reach 

 the latter it is necessary to traverse the phalanx composed 

 of the bulls, and in this lies the danger. For example, 

 one of the Indians, thrown off his horse, which had been 

 gored and rendered furious by a wounded bison, was 

 trodden under foot by the animal, and his nearly sense- 

 less body tossed to and fro like a shuttlecock. It necessi- 

 tated the miscellaneous discharge of three carbines to 

 terminate this double agony. 



I was greatly surprised at the rapidity with which the 

 Indians fired their guns. Not less astonishing was their 

 manner of loading. The gun was greased only on the 

 first occasion ; afterwards, the Sioux were content with 

 pouring in a charge of powder ; then, holding three or 

 four bullets in their mouth, they insinuated them into the 

 barrel by the agency of their lips ; and the ball dropping, 

 moist with saliva, adhered sufficiently to the powder. 



