124 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



rence of these buffalo, and found them ''very plentiful" in 

 the country east of Slave River. Mackenzie (1801) also 

 records them in the region adjoining the river named after 

 him to the west of the Great Slave Lake, and on the plains 

 near Vermilion Falls. In 1808 Harmon found them abun- 

 dant on either side of the Peace River near the Rocky 

 Mountains. Richardson^s observations in 1829 have already 

 been quoted (p. 114). Other travellers referred to their 

 abundance in this region in subsequent years, and E. W. 

 Nelson's letter referring to their occurrence has been 

 quoted (p. 115). John Macoun, in his "Manitoba and the 

 Great Northwest," refers to this herd as follows: ''The wood 

 buffalo, when I was in the Peace River in 1875, were confined 

 to the country lying between the Athabaska and Peace 

 Rivers north of latitude 57° 37', or chiefly in the Birch Hills. 

 They were also said to be in some abundance on Hay River 

 and on Salt River, a tributary of Slave River north of Peace 

 River. The herds thirteen years ago were supposed to num- 

 ber about one thousand all told. I believe many still exist 

 as the Indians of that region eat fish, which are much easier 

 procured than either buffalo or moose, and the country is 

 much too difficult for white men." 



In an article in the Field (London) of November 10, 1888, 

 Mr. Miller Christy (quoted by Hornaday) states: "The 

 Hon. Dr. Schultz, in a recent debate on the Mackenzie River 

 basin in the Canadian Senate, quoted Senator Hardisty of 

 Edmonton, of the Hudson's Bay Company, to the effect 

 that the buffalo still existed in the region in question. 'It 

 was' he said, 'difficult to estimate how many; but probably 

 five or six hundred still remain in scattered bands.' There 

 had been no appreciable difference in their numbers, he 

 thought, during the last fifteen years, as they could not 

 be hunted on horseback, on account of the wooded character 

 of the country, and were therefore very little molested. 

 They are larger than the buffalo of the great plains, weighing 



