The Last of the Buffalo 



calf, but with a shorter neck. The hump 

 at first is scarcely noticeable, but develops 

 rapidly. They are odd-looking and very 

 playful little animals. They are easily 

 caught and tamed, when quite young ; but 

 when a few months old they become as 

 shy as the old buffalo, and are much more 

 swift of foot. 



Although apparently very sluggish, buf- 

 falo are really extremely active, and are 

 able to go at headlong speed over a coun- 

 try where no man would dare to ride a 

 horse. When alarmed, they will throw 

 themselves down the almost vertical side 

 of a canon, and climb the opposite wall 

 with catlike agility ; and sometimes they 

 will descend cut banks by jumping from 

 shelf to shelf of rock like the mountain 

 sheep. To get at water when thirsty, 

 they will climb down bluffs that seem al- 

 together impracticable for such great ani- 

 mals. Many years ago, while descending 

 the Missouri River in a flatboat with 

 two companions, I landed in a wide bot- 

 tom to kill a mountain sheep. As we 

 were bringing the meat to the boat, we 

 saw on the opposite side of the river, 

 about half-way down the bluffs, which 

 were here about fifteen hundred feet high, 

 a large buffalo bull. The bluffs were al- 

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