APPEARANCE OF THE BISONS. 3G3 



left standing two hours before, were struck, folded, and 

 ready for removal ; horses were neighing, and dogs bark- 

 ing ; the Redskins, men and women, stirring about in all 

 directions. This state of affairs greatly alarmed us, and 

 we quickened our steps to ascertain its cause. 



As soon as they perceived us descending the barren 

 rocks leading to the bank of the channel of which I have 

 spoken, they made us a sign to hasten, and Messrs. Mead 

 and Delmot, who, out of fatigue or idleness, had remained 

 in the camp, ran to meet us, with eyes sparkling, and face 

 radiant, exclaiming, 



" Come, my friends, come ! We are only waiting for 



you 



" What is it ? " the three of us exclaimed. 



" The bisons ! " 



" Look yonder, on the other side of the canal ! Don't 

 you see that black and compact mass which seems to 

 advance like a cloud filled with water, around which the 

 thunder and the lightning gravitate : it is the bisons !" 



It was so. As far as the eye could reach towards the 

 northern line of the horizon, we perceived these animals 

 peacefully browsing the tall grass of the prairie, and some- 

 times plucking off the verdant clusters of the cotton- 

 trees. 



For us Europeans, who had never seen any bulls except 

 in their domesticated condition, and in small herds of two 

 or three hundred heads at the utmost, the spectacle of all 

 these animals evidently five to six thousand in number 

 caused us a joy almost too rapturous to be endured. 

 To set out immediately and attack the bisons, such was 

 our burning desire; it required the grave and senten- 



