192 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN TIIE FAR WEST. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE BUFFALO. 



The Buffalo. — Number of Species. — Difference between Them. — The gi- 

 gantic Buffalo of prehistoric Times. — Fierce Aspect of the modern Bi- 

 son. — Courage of the Male. — Social Character of the Species. — Mothers 

 have Little Affection for the Calves. — Fight between a Grizzly Bear 

 and a Small Herd of Bulls. — A Bull rescues a Calf from a Pack of 

 Wolves. — Another tries to protect a Cow from a Hunter. — A New 

 Mode of capturing Calves. — Buffaloes in a State of Domestication. — 

 Favorite Habitat of the Buffalo. — Character of the Buffalo Grass. — 

 Sufferings of the Animals in Winter from Hunger. — Why Old Bulls 

 leave the Herds. — Use of the Buffalo to the Indians. — The Flesh of the 

 Buffalo. — A Custom of the West. — How the Wolverine feasts on dried 

 Buffalo Meat. — Cunning and Courage. — Pemmican. — The most Deli- 

 cate Parts of the Buffalo. — Cows better than Bulls. — Vitality of the 

 Animals. — Best Weapons for hunting Them. — American Horses versus 

 Mustangs. — Opinion of Old Hunters. — Faults of Mustangs in running 

 Buffaloes. — The Various Systems employed for killing the Buffalo. — 

 Great Annual Slaughter of the Animal. — Indians dressed in Wolf-skins 

 attack the Buffalo. — Why they use Arrows instead of Fire-arms. — Hunts 

 of the Half-breeds of British America.— Mean Devices of the Whites. 

 — How Thousands are destroyed Annually. — The Camp and the Night 

 Alarm. — Shooting at Antelopes.— Stalking Buffalo Skulls. — Gambols 

 of Herds. — A Dash after a Herd, and what came of it. — An Alarm of 

 Indians. — Opinions of a Party of Teutons about Jokes. — The Result to 

 me of my Day's hunting. — A Spirited Chase in the Republican Valley. 

 — Wolves and Number of Quarries killed. — A Thousand Hunters and 

 Thousands of Buffaloes in Motion at the same Time.— Howling Wolves 

 and bellowing Bisons. — An Alarm of Sioux. — The Retreat. — Panic- 

 stricken Pawnees. 



The bison, or American buffalo {Bos americanus), is 

 now confined to a few regions extending from British 

 America to New Mexico, but it is nowhere abundant com- 

 pared to what it was. 



There are supposed to be two distinct species of the ani- 

 mal, namely, the common one which frequents the prairies, 

 and the wood, or mountain buffalo, which is never seen on 



