The Last of the Buffalo 



of buffalo chips leading from the angle of 

 the V, midway between its arms out on to 

 the prairie. These dark objects, only 

 twenty or thirty feet apart, were easily seen 

 against the white snow ; and the buffalo 

 always followed them, no doubt thinking 

 this a trail where another herd had passed. 

 By the Siksikau tribe of the Blackfoot 

 nation and the Plains Crees, \heptskun was 

 built in a somewhat different way, but the 

 methods employed were similar. With 

 these people, who inhabited a flat country, 

 the enclosure was built of logs and near a 

 timbered stream. Its walls were complete ; 

 that is, there was no opening or gateway 

 in them, but at one point this wall, else- 

 where eight feet high, was cut away so 

 that its height was only about four feet. 

 From this point a bridge or causeway of 

 logs, covered with dirt, sloped by a grad- 

 ual descent down to the level of the prai- 

 rie. This bridge was fenced on either 

 side with logs, and the arms of the V came 

 together at the point where the bridge 

 reached the ground. The buffalo were 

 driven down the chute as before, ran up 

 on this bridge, and were forced to leap into 

 the pen. As soon as all had entered, In- 

 dians who had been concealed near by ran 

 up and put poles across the opening through 



236 



