90 HUNTING ADVENTURES. 



beasts perceive the fire approaching on all sides, they retire in con- 

 fusion to the centre of the .square, where the bands close upon them, 

 and kill them as they are huddled together in heaps without 

 hazard ; 1500 or 2000 beeves have been given as the produce of 

 such an expedition. 



Captain (now Sir John) Franklin gives us the following infoi- 

 mation. After stating that the Stone Indians are so expert with 

 the bow and arrow that they can strike a very small object at a 

 considerable distance, and shoot with sufficient force to pierce 

 through the body of a buffalo when near, he thus describes a buffalo 

 or bison pound : 



"The buffalo pound was a fenced circular space, of about a hun- 

 dred yards in diameter; the entrance was banked up with snow, 

 to a sufficient height to prevent the retreat of the animals that once 

 have entered. For about a mile on each side of the road leading 

 to the pound, stakes were driren into the ground at nearly equal 

 distances of about twenty yards ; these were intended to represent 

 men, and to deter the animals from attempting to break out on 

 either side. Within fifty or sixty yards from the pound, branches 

 of trees were placed between these stakes to screen the Indians, 

 who lie down behind them to await the approach of the buffalo. 

 The principal dexterity in this species of chase is shown by the 

 horsemen, who have to manoeuvre round the herd in the plains so 

 as to urge them to enter the roadway, which is about a quarter of 

 a mile broad. When this has been accomplished, they raise loud 

 shouts, and, pressing close upon the animals, so terrify them tha 

 they rush heedlessly forwards towards the snare. When they 

 have advanced as far as the men who are lying in ambush, they 

 also rise, and increase the consternation by violent shouting and 

 fi.'ing guns. The affrighted beasts having no alternative, run 

 directly to the pound, where they are quickly despatched, either 

 with an arrow or gun. There was a tree in the centre of the 

 pound, on which the Indians had hung strips of buffalo flesh, and 

 pieces of cloth, as tributary or grateful offerings to the Great Mastei 

 01 life ; and we were told that they occasionally place a man in the 



