Hunting at High Altitudes 



ing up of carts on their sides to make breastworks 

 behind which to fight. The Indians of those days 

 had few guns or none, and scarcely ever attacked 

 them, except as already explained. 



When the buffalo were found, if the situation was 

 favorable, a surround was made, but on the other 

 hand sometimes the buffalo were on the flat prairie, 

 in which case it was necessary to approach them 

 openly, and the horsemen could not get nearer than 

 four or five hundred yards before the buffalo started. 

 Then, if it was spring and the horses were thin and 

 weak, a long chase was required to overtake the buf- 

 falo, and sometimes they might not be overtaken at 

 all. If the horses were weak and the buffalo were 

 in such a position that there was danger that they 

 might escape without being overtaken, the chiefs 

 would sometimes send out two men to approach the 

 buffalo gradually from one side, and starting them 

 slowly to bring them close to the camp. The young 

 men rode at a walk or a trot parallel to the direction 

 in which the buffalo were headed, and before long 

 the buffalo began to trot and then perhaps to gallop. 



If, riding on the left hand side of the herd, the 

 men wished to turn them to the right, they drew 

 away from them to a greater distance. If they wished 

 to turn them to the left, they directed their course 

 more toward the herd, which then in turn bent its 

 course toward the riders, as if trying to cross in front 

 of them. By this method of riding, the buffalo could 

 often be drawn some miles in one direction or the 

 other, and toward the waiting and concealed hunters. 



On favorable ground, when a successful approach 

 258 



