PLEASURES ON THE PRAIRIE. 23 



enjoy the pleasure of their pursuit all the year in one 

 locality. The legitimate methods for their pursuit are by 

 running them on horseback, when they are shot with a very 

 large-bored pistol as the sportsman ranges alongside, or 

 to stalk them, a rifle of great power and calibre being 

 then necessary. The shoulder-shot is the best, unless the 

 animal happen to front you and expose his chest. Shoot- 

 ing at the head is a useless expenditure of ammunition, 

 and unless to turn a charge should never be attempted. 



When studying on the distant and far-west plains of 

 America the habits of the buffalo (for though this name 

 is erroneous, still it is the appellation by which I knew 

 them, and daily heard them called), or pursuing them to 

 supply our camp with food, I never, in the retrospect of 

 a long and adventurous life, enjoyed such perfect health, 

 for the air on these distant plains is the purest I have 

 ever breathed. Frequently on a knoll I have stood, after 

 some unusually hard run, inhaling and enjoying its 

 freshness as the thirsty traveller does a cup of clear cooj 

 water drawn from a mountain stream. Each day you 

 perform you allotted work, and no cares are sufficiently 

 weighty to be dwelt upon, or procrastinated till they 

 return with redoubled force. Your horses are your com- 

 panions ; hardy and enduring you have proved them to 

 be; and between master and steed a bond of sympathy 

 springs up, the animal being all reliance, the owner 

 determined that the confidence shall not be misplaced. 

 With the true-hearted sportsman, who loves hunting for 

 the pleasure it affords, and the opportunities of studying 

 nature as it emanates from the Creator's hands, carnage 



