ON THE PRAIRIE 115 



fects of the long rifles ; their speed was not 

 such as to enable them to flee from a horse* 

 man; and their size and strength merely 

 made them too clumsy either to escape from 

 or to contend with their foes. Add to this 

 the fact that their hides and flesh were valu- 

 able, and it is small wonder that under the 

 new order of things they should have van- 

 ished with such rapidity. 



The incoming of the cattle-men was an- 

 other cause of the completeness of their de- 

 struction. Wherever there is good feed for 

 a buffalo, there is good feed for a steer or 

 cow ; and so the latter have penetrated into 

 all the pastures of the former ; and of course 

 the cowboys follow. A cowboy is not able to 

 kill a deer or antelope unless in exceptional 

 cases, for they are too fleet, too shy, or keep 

 themselves too well hidden. But a buffalo 

 neither tries nor is able to do much in the 

 way of hiding itself ; its senses are too dull 

 to give it warning in time ; and it is not so 

 swift as a horse, so that a cowboy, riding 

 round in the places where cattle, and there- 



