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71 



BISON OR " BUFFALO." (BO3 AMERICA 



remote unsettled regions of the north and 

 west, being rarely seen east of the Missis- 

 sippi or south of the St. Lawrence. 



The Hison, on his native plains, is of a 

 savage and formidable appearance ; never- 

 theless, he is not known to attack man, unless 

 when wounded and at bay. The difference 

 between the summer and winter dress of the 

 Bison consists rather in the length than in 

 other qualities of the hair. In summer, 

 kfrom the shoulders backwards the surface 

 \s covered with a very short, fine hair, smooth 

 knd soft as velvet. The tail is short, and 

 tVftcd at the end ; and the general colour of 

 the animal is a uniform dun. Varieties of 

 colour are, indeed, so rare among the species, 

 that the hunters and Indians always regard 

 them as matters of special wonder. Herds, 

 consisting of thousands of these fine animals, 

 still roam over the far western prairies, led 

 by the fiercest and most powerful of the 

 bulls. During the sexual season the noise 

 of their roaring is terrific, and the males 

 often fight with all the fury of desperation. 

 While feeding, they are frequently scattered 

 I over a vast surface ; but wheu they move 

 onward in a mass, they form a dense, im- 

 penetrable column, which, once fairly in 

 motion, is scarcely to be turned. They swim 

 large rivers in nearly the same order in which 

 they traverse the plains ; and, when flying 

 from pursuit, it is in vain for those in front 

 I to halt suddenly, as the rearward throng dash 

 madly forward, and force their leaders on. 

 The Indians sometimes profit by this habit ; 

 they lure a herd to the vicinity of a precipice, 

 1 and, setting the whole in rapid motion, they 

 terrify them, by shouting and other artifices, 

 1 to rush on to their inevitable destruction. 



There are various modes of capturing or 

 i killing these animals ; but there are none 

 which require so much dexterity as the 

 i hunting them on horseback ; which is thus 

 j described by Sir John Franklin : " An ex- 

 I pert hunter, when well mounted, dashes at 

 : the herd, and chooses an individual which 

 I he endeavours to separate from the rest. If 



ihe succeeds, he contrives to keep him apart by 

 the proper management of his horse, though 

 I going at full speed. Whenever he can get 

 sufficiently near for a ball to penetrate the 

 beast's hide, he fires, and seldom fails of 

 bringing the animal down ; though of course 

 he cannot rest the piece against the shoulder, 



nor take deliberate aim. On this service the 

 hunter is often exposed to considerable dan- 

 ger from the fall of his horse in the numerous 

 holes which the badgers make in these plains, 

 and also from the rage of the buffalo [Bison], 

 which, when closely pursued, often turns 

 suddenly, and, rushing furiously on the 

 horse, frequently succeeds in wounding it, 

 or dismounting the rider." " When the buf- 

 faloes are on their guard, horses cannot be 

 used in approaching them ; but the hunter 

 dismounts at some distance and crawls in 

 the snow towards the herd, pushing his gun 

 before him. If the buffaloes happen to look 

 towards him he stops, and keeps quite mo- 

 tionless, until their eyes are turned in another 

 direction j by this cautious proceeding a 

 skilful person will be able to get so near as 

 to be able to kill two or three out of the 

 herd." When wounded they are very fu- 

 rious ; their hoofs, more than their horns, 

 are their offensive weapons, and whatever 

 opposes them is in no small danger of being 

 trampled into the earth. 



The Hon. C. A. Murray, in his Travels in 

 North America, where he had excellent op- 

 portunities of studying the habits of this 

 animal in his native haunts, tells us that, 

 " The Buffalo, huge and unwieldy as he is, 

 goes over the ground at a rate which is sur- 

 prising i he bounds along with large, though 

 clumsy strides ; and in a rough country he 

 dashes down the steep sides of the broken 

 ravines, making the dust, the sand, and the 

 stones fly around with a furious rapidity, 

 that defies the pursuit of a rider who has 

 any regard for the neck of his horse or him- 

 self. The female, the constant object of the 

 hunter, from the superior quality and ten- 

 derness of her flesh, is beyond all comparison 

 swifter than the male ; she can run nearly 

 three miles to his two, and gives a very fair 

 chase to a horse of middling speed, fed only 

 on grass, and carrying a man of only ordi- 

 nary size." 



Numerous tribes of Indians are almost 

 wholly dependent on these animals for food, 

 tents, clothing, utensils, &c. The skins, 

 dressed in the Indian fashion, with the hair 

 on, make admirable defences against the 

 cold, and may be used for blankets, &c. They 

 are called buffalo robes; the term Buffalo 

 being generally, but inaccurately, applied 

 to the Bison. The horns of the Bison are 

 converted into powder-flasks ; while their 

 wool has been manufactured into hats, and 

 has also been employed in making coarse 

 cloth. Bison beef is rather coa_rser grained 

 than that of the domestic ox, but is considered 

 by hunters and travellers as superior in ten- 

 derness and flavour. The hump, which is 

 highly celebrated for its richness and deli- 

 cacy, is said, when properly cooked, to re- 

 semble marrow. The Hon. Mr. Murray, in the 

 work from which we have already quoted, 

 says, " I cannot convey any just impres- 

 sion of the total dependence of the remote 

 western tribes on Buffalo for their very ex- 

 istence, without giving a sketch of the va- 

 rious purposes for which that animal is, by 

 their ingenuity, rendered available. First, 

 its flesh is their principal, sometimes their 

 only food ; eaten fresh on the prairies during 



