22 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



pistol as the sportsman ranges alongside, or to stalk 

 them, a rifle of great power and calibre being then 

 necessary. The shoulder-shot is the best, unless the 

 animal happen to front you and expose his chest. 

 Shooting at the head is a useless expenditure of 

 ammunition, and unless to turn a charge should 

 never be attempted. 



When studying on the distant and far-west plains 

 of America the habits of the buffalo (for though this 

 name is erroneous, still it is the appellation by which 

 I knew them, and daily heard them called), or pur- 

 suing them to supply our camp with food, I never, in 

 the retrospect of a long and adventurous life, enjoyed 

 such perfect health, for the air on these distant plains 

 is the purest I have ever breathed. Frequently on a 

 knoll I have stood, after some unusually hard run, 

 inhaling and enjoying its freshness as the thirsty 

 traveller does a cup of clear cool water drawn from 

 a mountain stream. Each day you perform your 

 allotted work, and no cares are sufficiently weighty to 

 be dwelt upon or procrastinated, till they return with 

 redoubled force. Your horses are your companions ; 

 hardy and enduring you have proved them to be ; and 

 between master and steed a bond of sympathy springs 

 up, the animal being all reliance, the owner deter- 

 mined that the confidence shall not be misplaced. 

 With the true-hearted sportsman, who loves hunting 

 for the pleasure it affords, and the opportunities of 

 studying nature as it emanates from the Creator's 

 hands, carnage when useless is detestable : unneces- 

 sarily taxing the endurance of his steed, or paining it 

 with uncalled-for punishment, is a crime he would no 

 more be guilty of than the honest man of despoiling 



