324 UNGULATA. 



they fell upon each other at the foot of the cliffs or in the 

 enclosures, and were thus slaughtered by the hundreds. A 

 great deal of skill and favoring conditions of wind, as 

 well as the most adroit management on the part of the 

 Indian who clad like a buffalo acted as decoy to the herd, 

 were essential to the complete success of the maneuver. 

 These hunts were matters of great ceremony among the 

 Indians. Days and weeks were devoted to preparation, 

 with due observance of the established religious rites of 

 the tribes, and the most rigid laws against individual 

 hunting or frightening of the herds. 



"The true sportsman-like attack was by direct on- 

 slaught on horseback, or, as it was sometimes called from 

 the manner of approach "the surround." It was managed 

 with the same ceremonious preliminaries that were observed 

 by the Indians in all great buffalo hunts. The attack was 

 made by riding under strict discipline in careful order 

 directly upon the herd until the latter had fully scented 

 the danger, 'when the hunters, each free to go where he 

 chose, broke into a wild gallop and amid the thunder of 

 hoofs, the bellowing of the frightened beasts, and the 

 clouds of dust raised in the mad rush of so many animals, 

 fell pell-mell upon the herd, chasing and slaying. So com- 

 pletely panic-stricken would these mighty herds become, 

 and so little sensible of where to flee, that most of them fell 

 victims to their pursuers, and the ground where the attack 

 took place would be strewn with hundreds of dead bodies. 

 Now and then, when some infuriated monster turned too 

 quickly upon him, a luckless hunter would be unhorsed, 

 or even slain in the confusion of the chase. 



"The practical American hunter, when not bent on 

 sport for sport's sake, but after meat for food, adopted 

 a much simpler, more direct, and quite as efficacious means 

 of securing his game. This was the method of still hunting, 

 which consisted, as the name suggests, in stealing unob- 

 served upon the intended victim. Generally a small band 

 was preferable. It was not a difficult thing to crawl from 

 the leeward to within sure rifle shot without being discov- 

 ered. Then, choosing the best concealment the ground 

 afforded, the hunter would commence the work of destruc- 

 tion by firing at the fairest mark. The animals, hearing 

 only the report and seeing nothing, would not flee, but 



