272 THROUGH CANADA 



good guide that knows his business there is not 

 much doubt of an encounter with him in persona 

 propria. 



The buffalo, Bos americamis^ is called by the Cree 

 the moos-toos. It is, unhappily, an animal that in its 

 wild state only survives in history. It has ceased to 

 form an entity in the big game of the Far West. The 

 magnificent creature may be seen chafing in his pen 

 in Vancouver, or aimlessly wandering in the larger 

 confines of Yellowstone Park. These examples of 

 the American bison are little more than spiritless 

 survivals of the noble beast whose strength and mad 

 rushes across the prairie on thundering hoofs thrilled 

 us in the pages of romance. 



Indeed it is only in such records that anything like 

 a true picture of the buffalo remains. It seems 

 almost incredible that within living memory great 

 herds were scattered far and wide over the Western 

 plains. The causes that led to the practical extermi- 

 nation of the buffalo are incidental to exploration and 

 colonization. The early settlers largely subsisted on 

 buffalo m.eat, of which the herds amongst the foot- 

 hills offered an abundant supply. It entailed little 

 labour and less cost. Traders bound for more 

 northern regions found the fat of the animal, and 

 its preserved flesh, the best food on which to subsist 

 amidst frost and snow. Miners and adventurers who 

 joined in the rush to the spoil of real or imaginary El 

 Dorados shot them unsparingly, and little was left of 



