LIEUTENANT RUXTON'S EXPERIENCES. 77 



of wolves, the hoarse bellowing of the buffalo, like the ocean, 

 beating upon a distant coast." * 



The previous day the plain before them had been 

 alive with innumerable herds of these mighty beasts 



"From the river bank," says Mr. Parkman, " away over the 

 swelling prairie as far as the eye could reach, was one vast 

 host of buffalo. The outskirts of the herd were within a 

 quarter of a mile. In many parts they were crowded so 

 densely together, that in the distance their rounded backs 

 presented a surface of uniform blackness ; but elsewhere they 

 were more scattered, and from amid the multitude rose 

 little columns of dust where some of them were rolling on 

 the ground. Here and there a battle was going on among 

 the bulls; we could distinctly see them rushing against each 

 other, and hear the clattering of their horns, and their hoarse 

 bellowing " f 



George Frederick Ruxton (formerly Lieutenant 

 of the 8 Qth regiment) relates the following details 

 respecting some great herds of American bison seen 

 by him in Texas 



" We were now day after day passing through countless- 

 herds of buffalo. Some idea may be formed of their numbers, 

 by mentioning that one day passing along a ridge of upland 

 prairie at least 30 miles in length, and from which a view ex- 

 tended at least eight miles in length on each side, not a patch of 

 grass ten yards square could be seen, so dense was the 

 living mass that covered the country, in every direction. 



" One night while standing guard round the camp I heard 

 an inexplicable noise like distant thunder, but too continuous- 

 to proceed from that source, which gradually increased, and 

 drew nearer to the camp. Placing my ear to the ground, I 



* The Oregon Trail Sketches of Prairie and Rockv Mountain Life? 

 by Francis Parkman, 8th edit. 1885, p. 336. 



f Ibid., p. 331. 



Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains, by Geo. F. 

 Ruxton, 1849, p. 299. 



