178 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



being- next to them, while the burly bulls close the rear and 

 flanks. This terrified host causes the ground to fairly tremble 

 beneath its weight ; and the noise of its movements may be 

 heard a long distance oil', as it is not unlike the roar of an 

 advancing hurricane. 



When the hunters range alongside the crowding multitude 

 they use rifle and revolver so rapidly that the noise sounds 

 like the firing of a heavy body of skirmishers. They require 

 few shots to kill an animal, one or two being generally suffi- 

 cient, for their trained buffalo-runners carry them so close to 

 the herd that a bullet can be planted in whatever portion 

 of the body the hunter wishes. The result is, that in a run 

 of perhaps twenty miles, a thousand or two animals may 

 be lying on the ground, and in some instances double that 

 number. When the recall is sounded, the horsemen return 

 and devote their attention to the wounded, and soon put them 

 out of their misery. The carts follow the hunters and gather 

 up the meat, and the greater portion of that is, in a few hours, 

 ready to be placed on the drying stages, while the hides are 

 being prepared for curing. When the expedition returns after 

 the grand hunt, which sometimes lasts for weeks, its mem- 

 bers have meat enough to feed them for several months, and 

 many a buffalo robe with which to provide clothing and 

 luxuries for their families. 



A good robe is worth from two to four dollars, so it will lie 

 seen that they can earn a handsome sum in a short time. A 

 spring robe, when the animal has very little hair on its bodv, 

 and it looks like a shorn poodle, is worth only one or one and 

 a half dollars, yet the skin-hunters slay it even then for tin's 

 paltry sum in large numbers. 



The Indian hunts that I witnessed were something like the 

 one described, except that they used short, powerful bows and 

 heavy arrows in preference to fire-arms. The reason they 

 gave for this was, that the former made no noise and did not 

 therefore terrify the animals so much as the latter would, 

 or cause them to leave the country, and so make a long 

 pursuit a necessity. By using arrows they could hunt for 

 . several days within an area of twenty square miles, whereas 



