THE BISON OR AMERICAN BUFFALO. 25 



roar like that of surf. Camp was a mile 

 away, and the stampede luckily passed to one 

 side of it. Watching his chance he finally 

 dodged back to the tent, and all that after- 

 noon watched the immense masses of buffalo, 

 as band after band tore to the brink of the 

 bluffs on one side, raced down them, rushed 

 through the water, up the bluffs on the other 

 side, and again off over the plain, churning 

 the sandy, shallow stream into a ceaseless 

 tumult. When darkness fell there was no ap- 

 parent decrease in the numbers that were pass- 

 ing, and all through that night the continuous 

 roar showed that the herds were still thresh- 

 ing across the river. Towards dawn the sound 

 at last ceased, and General Walker arose 

 somewhat irritated, as he had reckoned on 

 killing an ample supply of meat, and he sup- 

 posed that there would be now no bison left 

 south of the river. To his astonishment, 

 when he strolled up on the bluffs and looked 

 over the plain, it was still covered far and 

 wide with groups of buffalo, grazing quietly. 

 Apparently there were as many on that side 

 as ever, in spite of the many scores of thou- 

 sands that must have crossed over the river 

 during the stampede of the afternoon and 

 night. The barren-ground caribou is the 

 only American animal which is now ever seen 

 in such enormous herds. 



In 1862 Mr. Clarence King, while riding 

 along the overland trail through western Kan- 

 sas, passed through a great buffalo herd, and 

 was himself injured in an encounter with a 



