Feb., 1912. Mammals of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 91 



now trampling by in ponderous columns or filing in long lines, morn- 

 ing, noon and night, to drink at the river — wading, plunging, and 

 snorting in the water; climbing the muddy shores, and staring with 

 wild eyes at the passing canoes."* 



Other Jesuit missionaries, including Marest, Gravier, Charlevoix, 

 and Hennepin have written concerning the abundance of Buffalo 

 observed by them during their travels in Illinois. f Charlevoix (172 1) 

 while crossing from vSt. Joseph River to the "Theakiki" [Kankakee] 



Earliest known picture of a Buffalo as given in Gomara's Historia general de las Indias, 1852-53. 



soon found them in abundance. He says, "The country begins to be 

 fine: The meadows here extend beyond Sight, in which the Buffalo go 

 in Hurds of 2 or 3 hundred."}: In describing the country bordering 

 the Illinois River below the junction of the Kankakee, he says, "In 

 this Route we see only vast Meadows, with little Clusters of trees here 

 and there, which seem to have been planted by Hand; the Grass grows 

 so high in them, that one might loose ones self amongst it; but every- 

 where we meet with Paths that are as beaten as they can be in the 

 most populous Countries; yet nothing passes through them but Buf- 

 faloes, and from Time to Time some Herds of Deer and some Roe- 

 Bucks. . . . The 6th [October, 1721] we saw a great Number of 

 Buffaloes crossing the River in a great Hurry." | 



Vaudreuil describes the abundance of these animals in the vicinity 

 of the Rock River in 17 18. From the bluffs along the river, he 



* Parkman, Discovery of the Great West, Boston, 1869, p. 204. 

 t Kip, W. I. Early Jesuit Missions in North America, N. Y., 1846. 

 X Letters, Goadby's Eng. edit., 1763, pp. 280 and 290. (Copied from J. A. Allen's 

 History American Bison, 1877, p. 501.) 



