THE BUFFALO. 39 



much more extensive than at present. The same reasons 

 that have decreased, and in some instances almost annihi- 

 lated, other genera, can be safely urged as the cause of this 

 the cultivation of wild lands and the unprecedented in- 

 crease of inhabitants on the American continent. On the 

 eastern limit of the Grand Prairie, in Illinois, I have fre- 

 quently found bones of the buffalo, telling too plainly that 

 this had once been his home. At the present day, at least 

 twelve hundred miles farther westward must be traversed 

 before the sportsman can hope for a chance to use his rifle 

 on this game ; and year after year farther distances will re- 

 quire to be journeyed to accomplish this purpose. Their 

 southern limits are Northern Texas and New Mexico, while 

 the intermediate expanse up to sixty-five degrees of north 

 latitude, according to the season, contains them in more or 

 less abundance. Of late years their range north has been 

 increased between three and four degrees, so that Indians 

 who formerly had to come two hundred or more miles, if 

 desirous of obtaining a supply of beef for winter use, have 

 the animals now on their home hunting-grounds. I am dis- 

 posed to believe that this is caused from their finding these 

 northern regions less disturbed for this is far north of 

 where the constant tide of emigrants crosses the plains 

 and that the poor, persecuted creatures prefer suffering 

 from the cold of these inhospitable localities to facing the 

 dangers that always are connected with a rencontre with 

 the pale-face. Although the buffalo can endure a great 

 amount of cold, and find food even after a thick covering 

 of snow lays upon the earth, yet he is not provided like the 

 musk-sheep for an Arctic winter, and from his greater bulk 

 requires so much sustenance, that a protracted sojourn in 

 the northern barrens must ultimately have the result of re- 

 ducing his strength, and therefore his fitness to cope with 

 the severity of the climate. Again, he has other enemies 



