a OE 
‘ STILL-HUNTING.’ 217 
the riding animals of the hunters, and follow 
them to the camp as tamely as though they _ 
were their dams. If provided with domestic 
cows, they may be raised without much dif- 
ficul 
Some of the northern Indians, particularly 
the Assinaboins, are said to practise still a 
distinct mode of taking the buffalo. A staunch 
pound is erected at some convenient point, 
and, after a course of mystic rites by their 
medicine-men, they start upon the enterprise. 
A gang of buffalo is frightened towards the 
pen, while an Indian, covered with one of 
their woolly skins, runs at a distance ahead. 
Being seen by the animals, they mistake him 
for one of their kind, and follow him into the 
pen. Once secured in the enclosure, they 
leisurely dispatch them with their arrows, as 
they are said to believe it would offend the 
Great Spirit and render future hunts unpro- 
pitious to use fire arms in killing their impri- 
soned game. 
However, of all other modes, our back- 
woodsmen prefer ‘still-hunting’—that_ is, 
stealing upon their game afoot with the rifle. 
Buffalo are much more easily approached 
than deer. When the hunter perceives a herd 
at rest, or quietly feeding, he crawls upon 
them behind a bank, a shrub, or a of 
grass, with the — facility, provided he 
‘has the wind of them,’ as hunters say—that 
is, if the wind blows from the buffalo; but if 
the reverse, he will find it impossible to ap- 
proach them, however securely he may have 
VOL. I. 19 
