116 GAME. 



animals very soon becoming unfit for food unless the 

 viscera are removed immediately after death. 



Once needing fresh meat for my command I sent out 

 some soldiers to shoot buffalo. They killed four or five 

 just at dark, and hurried to camp. I sent a waggon out 

 before daylight next morning, and, though the night had 

 been cool, the flesh was found to be so offensive that it 

 could not be used. The hunters had neglected to remove 

 the intestines. 



It is a curious fact, and an admirable example of the 

 universal providence of nature, that the young of game 

 animals have no scent. In some mysterious way, the dam 

 communicates her instructions to the newly-born offspring 

 which, in quiet obedience, lies motionless in the hiding 

 place selected for it, never moving except to escape the 

 most imminent danger. 



A hungry cougar or half- famished wolf may pass and 

 repass within a few feet of the little one, which, had it the 

 slightest scent, would at once fall a victim to these keen- 

 nosed gluttons. That great numbers do fall victims is 

 evidenced by the fact that at this season all the carnivora 

 are fatter than at any other. But for the admirable pro- 

 vision of nature in withholding scent from the young of 

 game animals, the races would soon be extinct. 



It is sad to reflect that there is another enemy against 

 which nature has made no provision, and from whose 

 ravages there is no escape, and that in a very few years 

 all the larger animals of the plains must inevitably be 

 extinct. 



This enemy is man. There are no game laws. There 

 can be none at least none that can be executed. An 

 army of officials could not now protect the game. Within 

 the last few years hundreds of men, too lazy or shiftless 

 to make a living in civilisation, have found a congenial 

 mode of life on the plains. 



A tent or hut far in the wilderness is the home of two 

 or three of these men, who have solved the problems how 



