72 HISTORY OF THE BISON. 



ears, and horns adjusted on his own head, so as to make 

 the deception very complete; and thus accoutred, he sta- 

 tions himself between the Bison herd and some of the pre- 

 cipices, 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 themselves and rush forv/ard 

 with loud yells. The animals being alarmed, and seeing 

 no way open but in the direction of the disguised Indian, 

 run towards him, and he, taking to flight, dashes on to the 

 precipice, where he suddenly secures himself in some pre- 

 viously 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 impe- 

 tuosity, and the aggregated force hurls them successfully 

 into the gulf, where certain death awaits them. 



About the middle latitude of their range, which is near 

 where the Missouri comes in from the west, they appear to 

 be most numerous ; and it is there that they have been 

 described as assembling in such vast herds, sometimes to 

 the estimated number of not less than twenty thousand at 

 one time. It is also there that they are said to attain the 

 largest size, and to be of the most bold and determined 

 character. 



Here, in their most appropriate pastures, and accompa- 

 nied as they are by rivers like seas, and single plains like 

 counties or even kingdoms, a herd of them must be a splen- 

 did sight, especially when thrown into a state of agitation 

 by a thunder storm or any other cause of alarm. They 

 are by no means so fleet footed as the more slender-bodied 

 ruminantia; but the enlargement of their bodies forward, 

 the compactness behind, the flowing 'of the shaggy mane, 

 and the sound which they utter, which is something between 



