CHAPTER III 

 THE LORDLY BUFFALO 



ONE forever are the mighty herds of 

 the lordly buffalo. A few solitary 

 individuals and small bands are still to 

 be found scattered here and there in the 

 wilder parts of the plains ; and though most 

 of these will be very soon destroyed, others 

 will for some years fight off their doom and 

 lead a precarious existence either in remote 

 and almost desert portions of the country 

 yiear the Mexican frontier, or else in the 

 wildest and most inaccessible fastnesses of 

 the Rocky Mountains; but the great herds, 

 that for the first three quarters of this cen- 

 tury formed the distinguishing and charac- 

 teristic feature of the Western plains, have 

 vanished forever. 



It is only about a hundred years ago that 

 106 



