INTRODUCTION. xvii 



Cimarron Elvers. In 1872, whilst on a scout for 

 about a hundred miles south of Fort Dodge to the Indian 

 territory, we were never out of sight of buffalo. In 

 the following autumn, on travelling over the same dis- 

 trict, whilst the whole country was whitened with 

 bleached and bleaching bones, we did not meet with 

 buffalo until we were well into the Indian territory, and 

 then only in scanty bands. During this autumn, when 

 riding some thirty to forty miles along the north 

 bank of the Arkansas Eiver to the East of Fort Dodge, 

 there was a continuous line of putrescent carcases, so 

 that the air was rendered pestilential and offensive to the 

 last degree. The hunters had formed a line of camps 

 along the banks of the river, and had shot down the 

 buffalo, night and morning, as they came to drink. In 

 order to give an idea of the number of these carcases, 

 it is only necessary to mention that I counted sixty-seven 

 on one spot not covering four acres. 



But this great loss of good and wholesome animal 

 food, all of which with a little judgment and foresight 

 could have been utilised, will be better understood by 

 reference to the statistics of cattle in other countries. 

 On reference to the official agricultural returns of Great 

 Britain, the United Kingdom, British Possessions, and 

 Foreign countries, it will be seen that the wanton and 

 wasteful slaughter for the three years in question (and 

 in making the comparison I am keeping to the illegiti- 

 mate slaughter for hides, and not legitimate slaughter for 

 food) swept away more buffalo than there are cattle in 

 Holland and Belgium, or as many as three-fourths of the 

 cattle in Ireland, or one-half of those in Great Britain. 



The result, therefore, would be the same as if a 

 fearful murrain in one year had destroyed the whole of 

 the cattle in Holland and Belgium, or, in the same time, 

 if either three-fourths of the cattle of Ireland, or one-half 



