RUMINANT QUADRUPEDS. 93 
these animals constitutes a large portion of the food of 
the Indians. Much of the pemmican, so called, used by 
hunters and voyagers in the far north, is made from the 
meat of the Bison. Then the skin, the buffalo-robe, is a 
necessary article of clothing, and is used also in construct- 
ing tents, and the horns furnish the powder-flasks of the 
hunters. The Buffalo or Bison hunt is therefore a great 
item in the life of an Indian in the West. The herds of 
these animals sometimes number thousands. Lewis and 
Clarke supposed that there were certainly 20,000 in one 
herd which they saw. The range of the Bison in this 
country is becoming every year less extensive from the 
encroachments of civilized man. 
160. The Yak, Fig. 78,is found in Tartary. It is not 
Fig. 78.—Yak. 
a very large animal. The mass of hair, which, rising 
above the shoulders, hangs like a mane almost to the 
ground, is applied to various uses by the Tartars. They 
weave it into cloth, which they use in making articles of 
dress and their tents, and they also make ropes from it. 
The hair of the tail, which is great in amount, is long and 
fine. The tail, with an ivory or metal handle, is used in 
India to keep off musquitoes, and is called a chowrie. 
