262 BUFFALO LAND. 



not desert the city and lose yourself for awhile in 

 this great grand waste ? Antelope are bounding and 

 buffalo running on every side of us, while villages 

 of prairie dogs bark at the flying herds. One grows 

 in self-estimation after breathing this air, and, feel- 

 ing that safety and life depend on his own exertions, 

 learns to place reliance upon the powders wdiich Na- 

 ture has given him, with manly independence of arti- 

 fical laws and police. 



" While I am writing, the first victim of our prow- 

 ess, a magnificent specimen of the American bison, is 

 being skinned by our suite, the robe from which, when 

 prepared, we intend sending you. The men say it 

 must be dressed by some of the civilized Indians on 

 the reserves, as the white man's tanning injures the 

 value. 



" The robe is now off, and half a ton of fat meat 

 lies exposed. We shall only take the hind quarters, 

 a portion of the hump, and the tongue. How glad 

 the famishing wretches in the tenement houses of the 

 city would be for an opportunity to pick those long 

 ribs which w^e leave for the wolves ! His horns are 

 somewhat battered, but we have cut them off, to sup- 

 plant hooks on a future hat-rack. One of the men 

 has just taken a large musket ball from the animal's 

 flank. That shot must have been received years ago, 

 as the ball is an old fashioned one and is thickly en- 

 cased in fat. 



" The geological formation of the country is very 

 interesting. I expect to examine the same more 



