CHAPTER VII. 



BUFFALO HUNTING. 



(Bison Americanus.) 



WHEN studying on the distant and Far- West plains of 

 America the habits of the buffalo (for though this 

 name is erroneous, still it is the appellation by which 

 I knew them, and daily heard them called), or pursuing 

 them to supply our camp with food, I never, in the 

 retrospect of a long and adventurous life, enjoyed such 

 true happiness. The air on these distant plains is the 

 purest I have ever breathed. Frequently on a knoll I 

 have stood, after some unusually hard run, inhaling 

 and enjoying its freshness as the thirsty traveller 

 does a cup of clear cool water drawn from a mountain 

 stream. Each day you perform your allotted work, 

 and no cares are sufficiently weighty to be dwelt upon 

 or procrastinated, to return with redoubled force. 

 Your horses are your companions ; hardy and en- 

 during you have proved them to be ; and between 

 master and steed a bond of sympathy springs up, the 



