FEEDING GROUNDS OF THE BISON. 35 



western districts. Little mention is made of them 

 by the early settlers, and in a ^History of Carolina' 

 the fact of two having been killed is mentioned as 

 a remarkable circumstance. They were formerly to 

 be met with in considerable numbers in Pennsyl- 

 vania and Kentucky, though the deadly rifle of the 

 rapidly increasing white population has now driven 

 them from those States. It is recorded of the cele- 

 brated Daniel Boone, the pioneer settler, or rather 

 the discoverer of the State of Kentucky,— a man 

 who had been trained as a hunter from his earliest 

 days, — that after crossing the Mississippi he was 

 perfectly astounded at the number of these animals. 

 From this circumstance it seems very probable that 

 the vast rolling prairies between the great river — 

 the ' Father of Waters, ' have always been their great 

 feeding grounds, and that those seen in the Eastern 

 States had crossed the water accidentally. 



The term ' Father of Waters ' is, by-the-by, a 

 very free rendering of the Indian name of the great 

 American river. In the language of the Choctaw 

 tribe, Missah and Sipioah, are two words very com- 

 monly used ; the former meaning ' old big, ' the latter 

 ' strong.' It would be very- difficult to find a more 

 appropriate name for the mighty stream which drains 

 a whole continent than the compound of these two 

 adjectives, Missah- sippah, or Old-big-strong. 



In the summer-time bison are found as far north 



D 2 



