THE AMERICAN BISONS. 215 



having a calibre of ^V inches is as effective a weapon against the buffalo as 

 need be used, if accurate and skilfully employed, the fatality of the shot 

 depending not so much upon the size of the ball used as upon the part of the 

 animal hit. I have seen, for instance, an old buffalo bull shot entirely 

 through the body at a distance of two hundred and thirty yards by a ball 

 from a six-pound rifle, having a calibre of only T %V inches, the wound killing 

 the animal almost instantly. 



4. — Domestication of the Buffalo. 



Now that the buffalo is apparently so nearly exterminated, it is greatly 

 to be regretted, not only that its ultimate extinction has been so rapidly 

 hastened by improvident and wanton slaughter, but that no persistent at- 

 tempts have as yet been made to utilize this valuable animal by domestica- 

 tion. Never, perhaps, was the time more favorable for such experiments 

 than now, since there are not only intelligent settlers living within or near 

 the boundaries of its range, where the experiments might be tried with- 

 out any of the risks that would attend a change of climate, but easy 

 access to its haunts from the Eastern States is afforded by railroads, by 

 means of which, at comparatively little cost and trouble, numbers might 

 be taken to any portion of the older States of the Union. 



The early explorers of the Mississippi Valley believed that the buffalo, 

 besides being valuable for its flesh and hide, might be made to take the place 

 of the domestic ox in agricultural pursuits, and at the same time yield a fleece 

 of wool equal in value, in respect to quality, to that of the sheep. That the 

 buffalo calf may be easily reared and thoroughly tamed needs not at this 

 late day to be proved. The known instances of their domestication are too 

 many to admit even of enumeration, but they have usually been kept 

 merely as objects of curiosity, and little or no care has been given to their 

 reproduction in confinement, and few attempts have been made to train them 

 to labor. 



As early as 1750, Kalm states that young buffaloes had frequently been 

 taken to Quebec, and kept among the tame cattle, but he adds that the cli- 

 mate there seemed too severe for them to bear, and that they commonly 

 died in three or four years. The same writer also states that the calves of 



