264 The King of the Thundering Herd 



This form of the piskun was not resorted 

 to unless there was no timber near by with 

 which to build the corral, as the buffalo 

 frequently broke through the circle, or 

 killed some of the women and children. 



It must have been a striking sight. The 

 great camp-fires, the warriors mounted upon 

 their ponies, with their bright trappings, 

 the Indian village, all animation, and inside 

 the frantically running herd of thousands 

 of buffalo galloping madly to death. 



There has been some discussion among 

 writers upon the American Indians as to 

 whether the Indian toled the buffalo into 

 the piskun or whether the Indian drove 

 him. From a careful sifting of all the evi- 

 dence, I am certain that the bison was 

 always toled for the first part of the way at 

 least. Any attempt to drive the herd at the 

 start would have frightened it and defeated 

 the end in view. George Bird Grinnell, 

 who has hunted much with the Indians, is 



