THE PKAIRIE. 45 



the traveler might have imagined himself wandering 

 among the ruins of some deserted city. . 



Getting down was bad ; getting up again was worse. 

 Guns, baggage, and horse furniture had to be carried in 

 the hand, while the animals scrambled up as they could. 

 One of them struck against a piece of rock that stuck 

 out upon the path, and was hurled down by the shock a 

 distance of near twenty feet, falling right upon his back. 

 Of course he was given up for lost; but, thank you, 

 Dobbin had no idea of that. He just got up again, gave 

 himself a shake, and then trying it a second time, 

 marched up as steadily as any of them. The passage of 

 this ravine took them five or six hours ; by the middle of 

 the afternoon they had accomplished it, and were restored 

 to the upper world. Continuing their route on the plain, 

 they found that by the time they had left the chasm a 

 few hundred yards behind them, not the slightest trace 

 of its existence was to be seen. 



It is into chasms such as these that the mounted In- 

 dians, spurring their half-wild horses to their utmost 

 speed, drive the immense herds of buffaloes, when they 

 come upon them in a situation suitable for this purpose. 

 Urged onward by the yells and rapid hoof-trampling be- 

 hind them, headlong, and tumbling over each other go 

 the huge terror-stricken brutes, a dark avalanche of 

 beast-life, bounding from .crag to crag in the rugged de- 

 scent, till, at the very bottom of the canon, lies a writh- 

 ing, swelling heap of carcases, a rich spoil for their sa- 

 vage pursuers to gloat over. 



The bow and arrow is a formidable weapon for the 

 destruction of buffalo, in the hands of an Indian. Some 



