HOW AND WHERE TO AIM. 375 



fro like a ship swaying on the waves, his head turns to 

 the right and left, and his eyes still seek the cursed 

 enemy which has reduced to powerlessiiess a form so 

 robust and so vivacious. The movements of the animal 

 become more abrupt as death draws nearer ; drops of 

 blood escape from his nostrils ; he stands stiffly on his 

 fore-feet ; his whole bulk trembles with a convulsive 

 movement ; and collecting all his strength for one awful 

 roar, he sinks upon his side, rigid as a corpse from which 

 life has long escaped. 



The first time that a novice, however skilled he may 

 be as a hunter, attempts to kill a bison, despite his suc- 

 cess in bringing down a kid or a goat, he invariably 

 misses his aim. 



Seeing before him an enormous mass, five feet in length 

 from the summit of the hump to the root of the tail, he 

 thinks he ought to plant a bullet right in the centre of 

 the giant's body to reach the vital parts. But this is a 

 complete mistake ; to slay a bison, he must hit between 

 the two omoplates, near the dorsal vertebrae. The shot is 

 then sure to be fatal ; the animal will have lived. 



During the two months which I spent with my friends 

 in the camp of Ilahm-o-j-or and the Sioux, I did not kill, 

 for my own share, more than two bisons. The first had 

 received the bullet right in his chest j the wound, travers- 

 ing the heart, was wide enough to admit of the entrance 

 of the fore-finger ; arid yet the animal had sufficient 

 strength to run upwards of two thousand yards from the 

 place where I had fired at him. The second received a 

 couple of balls ; one broke his fore-leg, and the other 



