116 THE CARIBOO. 



parfleche o' our leggins ; an' tough chawin' that ur, I 

 calc'late. We kep' a mighty sharp look-out for game, 

 you bet high ; when on a sudden, jest as we rose the 

 swell o' the peraira, what shed I see but a small band 

 o' buffler 'ithin a hunder yards o' us! ' Jehoshaphat ! ; 

 I yelled, lettin' loose Plumcentre at 'em, ' thur's buffler 

 for supper!' 'No, John' (the critter allers called me 

 John), 'No, John; they are not buffaloes; they are 

 bison. You should allers call things by their proper 

 names.' Wai, I a'most fell off my hoss larfin at the 

 coon comin' out on the peraira to tell this child what 

 wur a buffler ! It's jest as you say, young fellur," he 

 continued ; " thur's a many as doesn't know half they 

 purtends." 



Pierre and Gaultier laughed loudly at the sample of 

 ignorance adduced by old Jake ; and the former then 

 resumed his account of the cariboo, to which both of 

 his companions listened with interest. 



" The range of the cariboo," resumed Pierre, " exten- 

 sive as it is, is of course limited to those regions which 

 supply it with its favourite food. In Scandinavia it 

 descends to the high table-lands as low as latitude 60. 

 In fact, its range is conterminous with the birch and 

 willow, and with those lichens and mosses which con- 

 stitute the chief part of its sustenance. Of these the 

 Cladonia rangiferina, or reindeer lichen, with one or 

 two kinds of cornicularia and cetraria, form the prin- 

 cipal." 



" Great Columbus !" interjected Jake, " what'n thun- 



