120 HUNTING TRIPS 



was the only method of forcing them to at 

 least partially abandon their savage mode of 

 life. From the standpoint of humanity at 

 large, the extermination of the buffalo has 

 been a blessing. The many have been bene- 

 fited by it ; and I suppose the comparatively 

 few of us who would have preferred the con- 

 tinuance of the old order of things, merely 

 for the sake of our own selfish enjoyment, 

 have no right to complain. 



The buffalo is easier killed than is any 

 other kind of plains game; but its chase is 

 very far from being the tame amusement it 

 has been lately represented. It is genuine 

 sport; it needs skill, marksmanship, and 

 hardihood in the man who follows it, and if 

 he hunts on horseback, it needs also pluck 

 and good riding. It is in no way akin to 

 various forms of so-called sport in vogue in 

 parts of the East, such as killing deer in a 

 lake or by fire hunting, or even by watching 

 at a runaway. No man who is not of an 

 adventurous temper, and able to stand rough 

 food and living, will penetrate to the haunts 



