20 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



in the yard with them, and from what I saw of the damage done to 

 one of the fences by the animals charging, I can well imagine why 

 the keeper is not anxious to become on too intimate terms of 

 acquaintance with his formidable captives. In days gone by, when 

 the prairies of North America were literally blackened with the huge 

 herds of these monarchs of the wild, the Bison was much sought 

 after by the Red Indians. They found it an extremely useful animal, 

 as it provided them with food, clothing, covering for so-called 

 houses, weapons of defence, and other articles. It appears, too, 

 that man was not alone to blame in the vast toll taken from these 

 animal hordes of the by-gone, for when a troupe of Bisons stampeded 

 they became frenzied with rage and excitement. So much so, indeed, 

 that, with huge heads lowered and tails whisked in the air, they 

 would rush madly on, apparently caring little what became of 

 them. Thus many an animal perished by tumbling headlong into 

 some abyss from which there was no return, and even trampling 

 one another underfoot in the mad scamper of retreat. 



It is hardly possible to conjecture what a spectacle such a 

 gathering of these noble animal giants must have presented. It is 

 no idle fairy-tale to write of them as literally blackening the environs 

 they frequented, as it is only about forty years ago that a train "on 

 the Kansas Pacific Railway passed through a herd for a distance 

 of over a hundred miles " ! The white man, too, has helped in the 

 work of destruction, as now, when it is almost too late, he is doing 

 his best to save the mere remnant remaining. 



In its gregariousness and its immense numbers, the American 

 Bison must assuredly be considered one of the most remarkable 

 animals of the world living or dead and in its almost total extinc- 

 tion from its former haunts we have an apt illustration of how soon 

 the work of destruction may be carried out when once begun in 

 real earnest, and the rapid annihilation of this creature will certainly 

 be handed down to posterity as one of the most extraordinary 

 animal episodes of the nineteenth century. 



ELAND. But, we may well ask, what are we doing of real 

 practical service to-day to save many other creatures from extermina- 

 tion ? If we leave the great American continent and betake ourselves 

 to Africa, whither we have already in our pilgrimages been in quest 

 of some monster we have set out to survey, somewhat the same 

 harrowing tale must perforce be told. Let us take the case of the 

 Eland, of whom we have examples in Fig. 12. 



