The Last of the Buffalo 



told by the few real old-timers whose 

 memory goes back fifty years, to the time 

 when flint-lock guns were in use. A 

 mere fall from a horse is lightly regarded 

 by the practised rider ; the danger to be 

 feared is that in such a fall the horse may 

 roll on the man and crush him. Even 

 more serious accidents occurred when a 

 man fell upon some part of his equip- 

 ment, which was driven through his body. 

 Hunters have fallen in such a way that 

 their whip-stocks, arrows, bows, and even 

 guns, have been driven through their 

 bodies. The old flint-lock guns, or 

 "fukes," which were loaded on the run, 

 with powder poured in from the horn by 

 guess, and a ball from the mouth, used 

 frequently to burst, causing the loss of 

 hands, arms, and even lives. 



While most of the deaths which oc- 

 curred in the chase resulted from causes 

 other than the resistance of the buffalo, 

 these did occasionally kill a man. A cu- 

 rious accident happened in a camp of Red 

 River half-breeds in the early seventies. 

 The son of an Iroquois half-breed, about 

 twenty years old, went out one day with 

 the rest of the camp to run buffalo. At 

 night he did not return, and the next day 

 all the men went out to search for him. 



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