LY THE FAR WEST. 169 



which he plunges like a hog in its mire. Throwing himself 

 flat upon his side in this delightful hole, he forces himself 

 violently around, and ploughing up the ground by his rotary 

 motion, sinks deeper and deeper into the ground. Having 

 cooled his sides, he stands in the pool till inclination induces 

 him to step out, and give place to the next in power; and in 

 this manner the whole herd pass through in turn, each one 

 swinging its body around in a similar manner. When all have 

 finished their bath, the hole is quite deep, and once seen its 

 origin will always be known. Tt is evident that this excavat- 

 ing propensity must soon destroy the sharpness of the horns of 

 the sturdier bulls, especially if the soil is of a stony nature, so 

 that they have to yield their supremacy in a short time to the 

 younger bulls, which have appendages with sharper points. 

 It is supposed that the veterans are driven out of a herd by 

 their jealous juniors, when their horns become too blunt to 

 fight to good advantage, but this I should deduce to be a 

 fallacy, inasmuch as the natural characteristic of the animals 

 is to be social and peaceable. The actual reason why these old 

 hermits quit their companions and seek comfort in solitude 

 might be attributed to the waning or failure of their salacious 

 disposition, for some of them look as if they entertained the 

 sentiment, in a bovine form, that their only books were the 

 cow's looks, and folly was all they taught them. I hope the 

 spirit of Moore will pardon me for thus transposing and 

 applying his rollicking ditty ; but I thought it so appro- 

 priate to the circumstances that I could not help using it. 

 These hermits are the specimens on which the wolves delight 

 to dance attendance, yet they take excellent care to avoid their 

 horns unless they are ill, or so decrepid as to be unable to make 

 a strong resistance. Even when in vigorous condition they 

 sometimes yield their life to their gray foes, as the latter cut 

 their hamstring by a sudden bound, and once that is severed 

 they are soon transformed into wolf meat. 



Next to the lupine prowler, the Indian is the greatest lover 

 of the buffalo, and no wonder, for to him it is house, food, 

 clothing, and fire. Its flesh furnishes him with food ; its skin 

 with wigwams, lariats, reins,, robes,, ami raiment ; its dung the 



