MAMMALIA-BISON. 385 
cow. The hump of flesh covering the long spinous processes of the dursa} 
vertebrz, is much esteemed. It is named bos by the Canadian voyagers, 
and wig 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 
wool 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 stilj 
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 effectively destructive, nor could a more terrible devasta- 
ton be produced, than that of forcing a numerous |erd of these large 
49 
