The Lordly Buffalo 275 



young calves. They wander about with the cattle, 

 and are quite as familiar as any of them, and do 

 not stray any further away. One of them was cap- 

 tured when a yearling, by the help of a large yellow 

 hound. The cowboy had been chasing it some time 

 and, finally, fearing it might escape, hied on the 

 hound, which dashed in, caught the buffalo by the 

 ear, and finally brought it down to its knees, when 

 the cowboy, by means of his lariat, secured it, and, 

 with the help of a companion, managed to get it 

 back to the ranch. Buffalo can be trained to draw 

 a wagon, and are valuable for their great strength; 

 but they are very headstrong and stupid. If thirsty, 

 for instance, and they smell or see water, it is ab- 

 solutely impossible to prevent their going to it, no 

 matter if it is in such a place that they have to upset 

 the wagon to get down to it, nor how deep the 

 mud is. When tamed they do not seem to be as 

 ferocious as ordinary cattle that are allowed to go 

 free; but they are such strong, blundering brutes 

 that very few fences will hold them. 



My men, in hunting buffalo, which was with 

 them an occasional occupation and not a regular 

 pursuit, used light Winchesters ; but the professional 

 buffalo hunters carried either 40-90 or 45-120 

 Sharps, than which there are in the world no rifles 

 more accurate or powerful; with the Jarger-calibred 

 ones (45 or 50) a man could easily kill an elephant. 

 These weapons are excellent for very long range 

 work, being good for half a mile and over; and 

 sometimes the hunters were able to kill very many 



