IN THE FAR WEST. 203 



Valley when we were, and that every herd in the region was 

 in motion at one time. This was evidently the scene I had 

 witnessed, and grand indeed it seemed ; it was one I certainly 

 would not have missed for a good deal. 



I passed through the same valley in 1874, when the crops 

 were eaten up by grasshoppers, and persons had scarcely any- 

 thing to live on but meat, and I then learned that buffaloes 

 were not considered such nuisances as they had been, for were 

 it not for them many of the inhabitants would have suffered 

 from hunger. 



I have followed the shaggy bison frequently since then, but 

 no runs are so distinctly impressed on my memory as those of 

 the first two expeditions, as they were my novitiate in bulfalo- 

 hunting, and gave me more experience than would a dozen 

 ordinary runs in which there were neither mishaps nor dis- 

 appointments. 



A person does not always escape from a buffalo-hunt without 

 any more serious injury than a fall or a few bruises, however, 

 for it is no uncommon incident to have a man's horse ripped 

 open by an angry bull, or himself trampled or gored to death. 

 I saw an Indian on one occasion wounded so seriously by a bull 

 that he died in twenty-four hours after; and I heard of an 

 experienced hunter in Montana who got entangled in a large 

 herd, and was carried along by it for some distance, onlv to 

 meet his death by being pushed into a chasm by the wild 

 crowd of animals behind him, and which followed him to the 

 great spirit land. 



Buffalo-hunting has its comic side sometimes, but those who 

 are participators in the comedy do not, as a rule, see the fun of 

 the matter. To watch a man on foot legging it livelv before 

 a pursuing bull is certainly ludicrous to a spectator, for his lace 

 and eyes seem to fairly bulge out with fear, and he makes the 

 most unnecessary leaps, and glances about him in the wildest 

 manner, to see how affairs stand. To wateh a man holding 

 on to a horse's tail while the animal bucked and circled 

 and galloped to avoid the furious charges of an angrv A////V/.V 

 is mirth-provoking; and to see a novice, who is well mounted, 

 riding like John (iilpin before a rheumatic veteran that can 



