MAMMALIA-BISON. 



385 



cow. The hump of flesh covering the long spinous processes of the dorsal 

 vertebrae, is much esteemed. It is named bos by the Canadian voyagers, 

 and ivig by the Orkney men, in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 The wig has a fine grain, and when salted and cut transversely, it is 

 almost as rich and tender as the tongue. The fine wool which clothes the 

 bison, renders its skin, when properly dressed, an excellent blanket. The 

 Avool has been manufactured in England into a remarkably fine and beauti- 

 ful cloth ; and in the colony of Osnaboyna, on the Red river, a warm and 

 durable coarse cloth is made of it. Much of the pemmican used by the 

 voyagers attached to the fur companies, is made of bison meat, procured 

 at their posts on the Red river and Saskatchewan. One bison cow in good 

 condition, furnishes dried meat and fat enough to make a bag of pemmican 

 weighing ninety pounds. 



The herds of bisons wander over the country in search of food, usually 

 led by a bull, most remarkable for strength and fierceness. While feeding, 

 they are often scattered over a great extent of country, but when they move 

 in mass, they form a dense and almost impenetrable column, which, once in 

 motion, is scarcely to be impeded. Their line of march is seldom interrupt- 

 ed, even by considerable rivers ; across which they swim without fear or 



hesitation, nearly in the order that they traverse the plains. When flying 

 before their pursuers, it would be in vain for the foremost to halt, or attempt 

 to obstruct the progress of the main body ; as the throng in the rear still 

 rushing onward, the leaders must advance, although destruction awaits the 

 movement. The Indians take advantage of this circumstance, to destroy 

 great quantities of this favorite game ; and, certainly, no mode could be 

 resorted to, more efiectively destructive, nor could a more terrible devasta- 

 tion be produced, than that of forcing a numerous herd of these large 

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