A PLEASANT SURPRISE. 43 



presented me with a few more feeds of grain, which 

 without doubt, materially assisted my four-footed friends 

 in rapidly traversing the balance of the debatable 

 ground. 



The visitor to the plains desirous of hunting buffalo, 

 and doing so comfortably under the most advantageous 

 circumstances, should always take his saddlery with him, 

 A hunting saddle from Peat or Wilkinson and Kidd, made 

 -of the best pigskin, would be my choice, remembering 

 always to be provided with spare girths. The high-peaked 

 saddle generally used in the West has advantages for 

 frontier use ; but for a firm seat, hard and rough-riding, 

 ; give me our English production. A double-reined snaffle 

 I would take in preference to all bridles. At the same 

 time, much depends on how a horse's mouth has been 

 made. If the nag in his youth had his jaws dislocated 

 with a barbarous Mexican bit, a snaffle will have no 

 more power of control over his actions than officers over 

 a panic-stricken regiment. I once possessed such a 

 beast. The rider with a snaffle might as well have 

 pulled at a stalwart oak as at this creature's mouth. 

 He was a light-necked, star-gazing, hot-tempered beast. 

 The scrapes he got me in were so numerous that to 

 this day I wonder he did not break my neck. Of the 

 arms most suitable for buffalo-shooting from horseback, 

 I believe the large-bore breech-loading revolver the best. 

 They are easily loaded while on the gallop ; for the 

 muzzle can be placed between your thigh and the flap 

 of the saddle, and thus held. For my part I used a 

 double-barrelled shot gun, with the barrels reduced to 



