A OBJECTS OF TRAVEL. 



speaking, the bison, in his native wilds, and return home 

 for a Christmas dinner, the impossibility of the accom 

 plishment of the feat was widely asserted. Some gentle 

 men assured me that I must pass a dismal winter at one 

 of the advanced forts on the prairies, while others asserted 

 that I should not reach the " buffalo grass" before the 

 winter had closed in; others insisted that, altogether, I 

 went at the wrong season of the year. With open ears I 

 listened to everything that everybody had to say, while, 

 with open eyes, I watched and had watched the length of 

 the railways in the United States, and perceived that 

 every year the rail progressed on that go-ahead system 

 so natural to the nation, as the veins necessary to carry 

 out the circulation of a mighty trade. One of my objects 

 was to show to the rich and rising, and, I hope, adven 

 turous and hardy, sportsmen of the present day, that, 

 even if their duties called them to the House of Peers or 

 Commons, they might attend the session of Parliament, 

 visit their brother sportsmen in America, reach the 

 haunts of and hunt the larger game, add to those they 

 had in England the hearty friendship of many a transat 

 lantic gentleman, and return again in ample time to share 

 in or maintain the usual hospitalities of Christmas. That 

 the sportsmen of England may do so, is proved by my 

 'having sailed from Liverpool in the " Africa," on the 20th 

 of August, 1859, and returned to the same city in the 

 " Asia," on Sunday night, the 4th of December, with the 

 huge bison's head to crown the trophies in my hall. 

 Before starting on this adventure, I did all in my 

 power to ascertain the best mode of proceeding to the 

 prairies of the Far West, and the probable cost of, 

 and the best outfit for, the journey. But, alas ! all 

 the gentlemen to whom I spoke, and who had been in 



