24 ‘THE BUFFALO FEVER.’ 
1822 by an unfortunate trader named Mc- 
Knight, who was afterwards betrayed and 
murdered by the faithless Comanches. The 
landscape is beautifully variegated with stripes 
and fringes of timber: while the little herds of 
buffalo that were scattered about in fantastic 
groups imparted a degree of life and pictur- 
esqueness to the scene, which it was truly de- 
lightful to contemplate. 
t was three days previous that we had first 
met with these ‘prairie cattle’ I have often 
heard backwoodsmen speak of the ‘buck 
ague, but commend me to the ‘ buffalo fever’ 
of the Prairies for novelty and amusement. 
Very few of our party had ever seen a buffalo 
before in its wild state; therefore at the first 
sight of these noble animals the excitement 
surpassed anything I had ever witnessed be- 
fore. Some of our dragoons, in their eager- 
ness for sport, had managed to frighten away 
a small herd that were quietly feeding at some 
distance, before our ‘still hunters, who had 
crawled towards them, had been able to get 
within rifle-shot of them. No sooner were 
the movements of our mounted men perceiv- 
ed, than the whole extent of country, as far 
as the eye could reach, became perfectly ani- 
mate with living objects, fleeing and scamper- 
ing in every direction. From the surrounding 
valleys sprang up numerous herds of ee 
animals which had hitherto been unobserved, 
many of which, in their indiscriminate flight, 
passed so near the wagons, that the drivers, 
carried away by the contagious excitement of 
