CHAPTER SIX 



LAND FOR 

 WILD LIFE AND RECREATION 



Six days of severe traveling have brought us from the Comari' 

 che village to the north bank of the Canadian, where 

 we are snugly encamped on a beautiful plain, and in the midst 

 of countless numbers of buffaloes; and halting a few days to 

 recruit our horses and men, and dry meat to last us the remain' 

 der of our journey. 



"The plains around this, for many miles, seem actually 

 speckled in distance, and in every direction, with herds of 

 grazing buffaloes; and for several days, the officers and men 

 have been indulged in a general licence to gratify their sporting 

 propensities; and a scene of bustle and cruel slaughter it has 

 been, to be sure! From morning till night, the camp has been 

 daily almost deserted; the men have dispersed in little squads in 

 all directions, and are dealing death to these poor creatures to 

 a most cruel and wanton extent, merely for the pleasure of 

 destroying, generally without stopping to cut out the meat. 

 During yesterday and this day, several hundreds have undoubt 

 edly been killed, and not so much as the flesh of half a dozen 

 used. Such immense swarms of them are spread over this tract 

 of country; and so divided and terrified have they become, 

 finding their enemies in all directions where they run, that the 

 poor beasts seem completely bewildered running here and 

 there, and as often as otherwise, come singly advancing to the 

 horsemen, as if to join them for their company, and are easily 

 shot down. In the turmoil and confusion, when their assailants 



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