WESTERN WILD SPORTS. 153 



flying before their pursuers, it would be in vain for the fore- 

 most to halt, or attempt to obstruct the progress of the main 

 body, as the throng in the rear still rushing onward, the leader 

 must advance, although destruction awaits the movement. The 

 Indians take advantage of this circumstance to destroy great 

 quantities of this favorite game ; and certainly, no mode could 

 be resorted to more effectually destructive, nor could a more 

 terrible devastation be produced, than that of forcing a nume- 

 rous herd of these large animals to leap together from the brink 

 of a dreadful precipice upon a rocky and broken surface, a hun- 

 dred feet below. 



" When the Indians determine to destroy Bison in this way, one 

 of their swiftest-footed and most active young men is selected, 

 who is disguised in a Bison skin, having the head, ears and 

 horns adjusted on his own head, so as to make the deception 

 very complete, and thus accoutred, he stations himself between 

 the Bison herd and some of the precipices that often extend for 

 several miles along the rivers. The Indians surround the herd 

 as nearly as possible, when, at a given signal, they show them- 

 selves, and rush forward with loud yells. The animals being 

 alarmed, and seeing no way open but in the direction of the dis- 

 guised Indian, run towards him, and he taking to flight, dashes 

 on to the precipice, where he suddenly secures himself in some 

 previously ascertained crevice. The foremost of the herd arrives 

 at the brink — there is no possibility of retreat — no chance of 

 escape. The foremost may for an instant shrink with terror, 

 but the crowd behind, who are terrified by the approaching 

 hunters, rush forward with increasing impetuosity, and the ag- 

 gregated force hurls them successively into the gulf, where cer- 

 tain death awaits them. 



" It is extremely fortunate that this sanguinary and wasteful 

 method of killing Bisons is not very frequently resorted to by 

 the savages, or we might expect these animals in a few years to 

 become almost entirely extinct. Lewis and Clark bestowed the 

 name o^ Slaughter River on one of the tributaries of the Missis- 

 sippi, in consequence of the precipices along the sides having 

 been used by the Indians for this mode of killing the Bison. 



