ACROSS THE KOCKV MOUNTAINS, ETC. 51 



no man wish. The savory buflalo hump has sufiered no depre- 

 ciation since the " man without a cross" vaunted of its good 

 qualities to " the stranger ;" and in this, as in many other par- 

 ticulars, we have reahzed the truth and fidelity of Cooper's admi- 

 rable descriptions. 



23d. — When we rose this morning, not a single buffalo, of the 

 many thousands that yesterday strewed the plain, was to be seen. 

 It seemed like magic. Where could they have gone? I asked my- 

 self this question again and again, but in vain. At length I ap- 

 plied to Richardson, who stated that they had gone to the bluifs, 

 but for what reason he could not tell ; he, however, had observed 

 their tracks bearing towards the bluffs, and was certain that they 

 would be found there. He and Sandsbury (another hunter) were 

 then about starting on a hunt to supply the camp, and I con- 

 cluded to accompany them ; Mr. Lee, the missionary, also joined 

 us, and we all rode ofT together. The party got under way about 

 the same time, and proceeded along the bank of the river, while 

 we struck off south to look for the buffalo. About an hour's 

 brisk trotting carried us to the bluffs, and we entered amongst 

 large conical hills of yellow clay, intermixed with strata of lime- 

 stone, but without the slightest vegetation of any kind. On the 

 plains which we had left, the grass was in great luxuriance, but 

 here not a blade of it was to be seen, and yet, as Richardson had 

 predicted, here were the buffalo. We had not ridden a mile 

 before we entered upon a plain of sand of great extent, and ob- 

 served ahead vast clouds of dust rising and circling in the air as 

 though a tornado or a whirlwind were sweeping over the earth. 

 " Ha !" said Richardson, " there they are ; now let us take the 

 wind of them, and you shall see some sport." We accordingly 

 went around to leeward, and, upon approaching nearer, saw the 

 huse animals rolling over and over in the sand with aston- 

 ishing agility, enveloping themselves by the exercise in a per- 

 fect atmosphere of dust ; occasionally two of the bulls would 



