BUFFALO. 137 



followed, and, on reaching the top of the hill, found it 

 standing around a cow dying on the ground. As I 

 approached all stared at me, but did not offer to run. 

 I sat down on the ground in plain view, within fifty 

 yards of the nearest, and deliberately shot down every 

 calf in the herd twelve and killed another cow, a 

 bullet passing through a calf into her. By this time 

 my waggons were up. Going to the edge of the bank 

 I called up the men, and when we went to butcher our 

 game we were obliged to drive the uninjured buffalo 

 away by waving our hats, shouting, and throwing stones. 

 The other 'stand' was very similar, but, needing less 

 meat, I killed but four or five calves. 



The skinners with the waggon follow the shooter at 

 a distance, taking care to keep out of sight of the 

 buffalo. 



The skins of the victims are whipped off with mar- 

 vellous dexterity and rapidity, and the tongues cut out. 



If preparations have been made for smoking, corning, 

 or otherwise saving meat, the hind quarters are cut off, 

 and loaded with the skin and tongue upon the waggon. 

 The loin, the ribs, the hump, aJl the best and most 

 savoury parts of the animal, are left to rot, or are eaten 

 by wolves. In the very large majority of cases the 

 whole carcass is left to rot where it fell. 



In the height of the furor of slaughter (1872-3), 

 when buffalo were so plentiful that skinning was the 

 only work, the ordinary process was found to be much 

 too slow for the ' great American buffalo-skinner,' so he 

 devised a plan of his own. An incision was made 

 across the back of the head, just in fron ; t *of the ears 

 and around the throat. This thick skin, ears included, 

 was started by skinning down some six or eight inches. 

 Connecting incisions were made from the throat down 

 the belly, and from this down each leg to the knee as is 

 usual. A stout rope was fastened about the thick skin 

 on the back of the head, the ears preventing its slipping 



