THE BISON, OR BUFFALO. 283 



existence so endurable, I could return to the 

 verdant savannas without regret, and once more 

 engage in hunting the buffalo, the deer, or the 

 antelope. During my stay in the United States, I 

 met with trappers who had once known all the plea- 

 sures of civilised life, and who, by the chance of 

 fortune, had been brought into this savage state, yet 

 ■who had become so accustomed to the manners, the 

 pleasures, and the vicissitudes of the wild life, that 

 they would never have given up their couch of reeds 

 under a rickety tent for the best feather-bed in the 

 palace of a prince. A man must have experienced 

 this mode of life to understand the feeling. 



I cannot now describe all the sport we engaged in 

 in the company of the Sioux and their chief. If I 

 w^ere to give a list of all the buffaloes killed during 

 the period of our stay with the Red Skins, perhaps 

 I might be accused of drawing the longbow. 



In 1841, when I started for the United States, 

 I took with me a capital gun, by Saint Etienne, the 

 cost of which was very much below the excellence 

 of the weapon. This double-barrelled fowling-piece 

 had accompanied me on all my sporting expeditions, 

 and I preferred it to the best rifles borne by my 

 companions. The excellence and precision of this 

 gun had not escaped the notice of the chief, and I 

 could not help observing that he cast upon it the 

 sam.e kind of wistful glances which a lover ad- 

 dresses to his mistress. One morning, a few days 



