PRAIRIE SPORTS. 259 



escape of this sort is brilliantly related as having befallen him- 

 self, by the gentleman I have mentioned before, w^ho is proba- 

 bly the best amateur Bison and Elk hunter in America. 



There is, however, more real danger arising from falls of the 

 hunter's horse, vi^hen at speed, from treading in the burrows of 

 that species of marmot, known as the Prairie Dog ; or from 

 plunging down impracticable descents, or attempting leaps at 

 impassable ravines, than from the horns and hoofs of the Bison, 

 or the antlers of the Elk, who is a far more dangerous customer 

 when hurt, than his more bulky and savage-looking comrade of 

 the plains. 



The large revolving pistol is rather a favorite weapon in the 

 chase of the Buffalo ; but I confess a prejudice against it, first, 

 as being very complicated, and therefore liable to get broken 

 or disordered, in which case it cannot possibly be repaired, — 

 whereas any armorer can set a common percussion firelock to 

 rights, if injured ; and,«Becondly, because I have no confidence 

 in their steady and regular execution. I understand that they 

 have been found to work very well, especially by the Rangers 

 of Texas, during the late Mexican campaigns ; but I confess, 

 unless against ?nen^wi{h whom the prestige is everything, and 

 the quick repetition of shots a thing dreaded, I would infinitely 

 rather depend on a brace of good ten-inch duelling pistols, car- 

 rying balls of thirty-two to the pound, than all the revolvers in 

 the world. This is, however, a matter of opinion and taste, and 

 I am led to believe that Colt's weapons have been improved 

 since I tried them. But when I did so, a few years since, I 

 constantly found them failing to revolve at all, or if at all truly, 

 in consequence of the caps being diiven backward by the ex- 

 plosion, and falling down between the cylinder and the breech, 

 so as to make a jam. The best of these weapons, by all ac- 

 counts, is the largest ])ist()l. The rifle is cumbrous and unwieldy 

 — the fowlingpiece, I believe, was instantly abandoned ; at all 

 events, it is preposterously and self-evidently useless. 



For Prairie Sporting in general, I should recommend, as an 

 all sufficient armory, a double-barrelled, two-grooved rifle; a 



