The Thundering Herd 57 



he would put a stop to it ; so he filled sev- 

 eral poles with spikes. Examinations of 

 these particular poles a few days later 

 showed that they had been used much 

 more than before the spikes were driven in, 

 the spike-filled poles making a fine curry- 

 comb for the buffalo. This rubbing process 

 is also common among domestic cattle, es- 

 pecially in the spring, when they are shed- 

 ding their old coats. In this season of the 

 year the buffalo's coat, which is long and 

 thick, often hangs in shreds or matted 

 masses a foot or two in length, and it is to 

 get rid of these encumbrances that the 

 buffalo take to the rubbing-posts. 



Then there were the buffalo-wallows, 

 places fifty or sixty feet across, where the 

 bison had worn out a sort of basin by roll- 

 ing and wallowing in the mud. Sometimes 

 these wallows were entirely dry, and often 

 they were grassed over, but you could al- 

 ways see the ridge at the edge of the wal- 



