THE AMERICAN BISONS. 201 



without flour, coffee, and tobacco."* In the narratives of military reconnais- 

 sances and other government explorations of the Plains, as well as of those 

 of private explorers and travellers, the first meeting with buffalo chips is 

 chronicled as something intimately affecting the welfare of the party, as it 

 not only generally gives promise of soon meeting with herds of the animals 

 themselves, but insures fuel for the camp-fire and for culinary purposes in 

 regions where other sources of fuel are either precarious or entirely wanting. 

 In the history of travel across the great interior plains, from those of Texas 

 to those of the Saskatchewan, no other element, not even water, figures more 

 prominently. Its absence in the treeless districts necessitates the transpor- 

 tation of wood as an indispensable part of the camp stores, while its presence 

 not only renders this needless, but insures all those ordinary comforts of 

 camp life that the conveniences of a camp-fire always bring. Hence its im- 

 portance as a civilizing agent cannot well be overrated. The misery experi- 

 enced when, during rainy seasons, it is temporarily too wet to burn, — the 

 deprivation of the " cup that cheers but not inebriates," and of all means of 

 cooking,- — gives one a most vividly realizing sense of what his condition 

 might be, for days and weeks, were it not for this invaluable resource. 



How long the chip will endure the vicissitudes of the weather under the 

 dry atmosphere of the Plains it is impossible to say, but its decomposition is 

 slow, as it will remain in serviceable condition for years. After an exposure 

 of six months it burns quite readily, but is not at its best as an article of 

 fuel till it has had the suns and frosts of a year. It burns in much the same 

 manner as peat, and though making but little flame yields a very intense 

 heat. Strips of buffalo fat thrown on at intervals during the evening add a 

 bright blaze, furnishing the explorer with ample light by which to write up 

 his notes of the clay's work, and enlivening the camp with all the cheer af- 

 forded by the pinon and pitch-pine camp-fires of the mountains or other 

 wooded districts. Especially grateful does this "buffalo-chip" fire thus be- 

 come in the long cold evenings of the hunter's winter camp on the Plains. 



Another use to which buffalo chips are sometimes put is that of marking 

 trails, and even surveyor's lines and points, it temporarily serving the office 

 of stones and stakes in places where timber and stones are not to be ob- 

 tained, as is the case over so large a part of the Great Plains. 



* "Chips from the Buffalo's Workshop" — Forest and Stream, April 1, 1875. 



