BUFFALO HUNTING. 195 
cision, that suggests the notion that they are a jolly set 
of dare-devils, fond of fun and extravagances, and dis- 
posed to have their jokes at the expense of all dignity 
of carriage, and the good opinion of the grave portion of 
the world. 
But, upon nearer examination, you quail before the 
deep destructive instinct expressed in the eye; the shaggy 
mane distends, and shows the working of muscles fairly 
radiant with power; the fore foot dashes into and fur- 
rows the hard turf; the tail waves in angry curves; the 
eyeballs fill with blood, and with bellowing noise that 
echoes like the thunder, the white foam covers the 
shaggy jaws. Then the huge form before you grows 
into a mountain, then is exhibited an animal sublimity, 
a world of appetite without thought, and force without 
reason. 
Standing on one of the immense prairies of the 
“ south-west,” you look out upon what seems to be the 
green waving swell of the sea, suddenly congealed—and 
it requires but little fancy to imagine, when the storm- 
cloud sweeps over it, and the rain dashes in torrents, 
and the fierce winds bear down upon it, that the magic 
that holds it immovable, may be broken, and leave you 
helpless on the billowy wave. 
On such an expanse, sublime from its immensity, 
roams the buffalo, in numbers commensurate with the 
extent, and not unfrequently covering the landscape, 
until their diminishing forms mingle in the opposite 
my 
