BUFFALO. 133 



than would have supplied a brigade. From within a 

 few miles of the post our pleasure was actually marred 

 by their numbers, as they interfered with our pursuit of 

 other game. 



In the fall of 1873 I went with some of the same 

 gentlemen over the same ground. 



Where there were myriads of buffalo the year before, 

 there were now myriads of carcasses. The air was foul 

 with sickening stench, and the vast plain, which only a 

 short twelvemonth before teemed with animal life, was a 

 dead, solitary, putrid desert. We were obliged to travel 

 south-east to the Cimarron, a distance of nearly ninety 

 miles, before we found a respectable herd. Even there 

 we found the inevitable hunter, the southern line of the 

 State of Kansas being picketed by them. They were 

 wary of going into Indian territory, where they might 

 be arrested ; but an unfortunate herd no sooner crossed 

 the line going north than it was destroyed. The butchery 

 still goes on. Comparatively few buffalo are now killed, 

 for there are comparatively few to kill. In October 

 1874 I was on a short trip to the buffalo region south 

 of Sidney Barracks. A few buffalo were encountered, 

 but there seemed to be more hunters than buffalo. The 

 country south of the South Platte is without water for 

 many miles, and the buffalo must satisfy their thirst at 

 the river. Every approach of the herd to water was 

 met by rifle bullets, and one or more buffalo bit the 

 dust. Care was taken not to permit the others to drink, 

 for then they would not return. Tortured with thirst 

 the poor brutes approach again, always to be met by 

 bullets, always to lose some of their number. 



But for the favouring protection of night, the race 

 would before now have been exterminated. In places 

 favourable to such action as the south bank of the Platte, 

 a herd of buffalo has, by shooting at it by day, and by 

 lighting fires and firing guns at night, been kept from 

 water for four days, or until it has been entirely 



