288 THE GEOEGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



BUFFALO CHASE ON UPPER MISSOURI, SUMMER OF 1832. 



The Miuatarees, as well as the Mandaus, had suffered for some months past for want 

 of meat, and had indulged in the most alarming fears that the herds of buffaloes were 

 emigrating so far off from them that there was great danger of their actual starva- 

 tion, when it was suddenly announced through the village one morning at an early 

 hour that a herd of buffaloes was iu sight, when a hundred or more young men 

 mounted their horses, with weapons in hands, and steered their course to the prairies. 

 The chief informed me that one of his horses was in readiness for me at the door of his 

 wigwam, and that I had better go and see the curious affair. I accepted his polite 

 offer, and, mounting the steed, galloped oft' with the hunters to the prairies, where 

 we soon descried at a distance a fine herd of buffaloes grazing, when a halt and a 

 council were ordered, and the mode of attack was agreed upon. I had armed myself 

 with my pencil and my sketch-book only, and consequently took my position gener- 

 ally in the rear, where I could see and appreciate every maneuver. 



The plan of attack, which in this country is familiarly called a surround, was ex- 

 plicitly agreed upon, and the hunters who were all mounted on their " buffalo horses " 

 and armed with bows and arrows or long lances, divided into two columns, taking op- 

 posite directions, and drew themselves gradually around the herd at a mile or more 

 distance from them, thus forming a ciccle of horsemen at equal distances apart, who 

 gradually closed in upon them with a moderate pace at a signal given. The unsus- 

 pecting herd at length " got the wind " of the approaching <memy and fled in a mass 

 in the greatest confusion. To the point where they were aiming to cross the line the 

 horsemen were seen at full speed, gathering and forming in a column, brandishing 

 their weapons and yelling in the most frightful manner, by which means they turned 

 the black and rushing mass which moved off in an opposite direction, where they were 

 again met and foiled iu a similar manner and wheeled back in utter confusion, by 

 which time the horsemen had closed in from all directions, forming a continuous line 

 around them, whilst the poor affrighted animals were eddying about in a crowded 

 and confused mass, hooking and climbing upon each other, when the work of death 

 commenced. I had rode up in the rear and occupied an elevated position at a few 

 rods' distance, from which I could (like the general of a battlefield) survey from my 

 horse's back the nature and the progress of the grand melei ; but (unlike him) with- 

 out the power of issuing a command or in any way directing its issue. 



In this grand turmoil (No. 409) a cloud of dust was soon raised, which in parts 

 obscured the throng where the hunters were galloping their horses around and driv- 

 ing the whizzing arrows or their long lances to the hearts of these noble animals, 

 which, in many instances, becoming infuriated with deadly wounds in their sides, 

 erected their shaggy manes over their blood-shot eyes and furiously plunged forward 

 at the sides of their assailants' horses, sometimes goring them to death at a lunge and 

 putting their dismounted riders to flight for their lives ; sometimes their dense crowd 

 was opened, and the blinded horsemen, too intent on their prey amidst the cloud of 

 dust, were hemmed and wedged in amidst the crowding beasts, over whose backs they 

 were obliged to leap for security, leaving their horses to the fate that might await 

 them in the results of this wild and desperate war. Many were the bulls that turned 

 upon their assailants and met them with desperate resistance ; and many were the 

 warriors who were dismounted and saved themselves by the superior muscles of their 

 legs ; some who were closely pursued by the bulls, wheeled suddenly around and 

 snatching the part of a buffalo robe from around their waists, threw it over the horns 

 and the eyes of the infuriated beast, and darting by its side drove the arrow or the 

 lance to its heart. Others suddenly dashed off upon the prairies by the side of the 

 affrighted animals which had escaped from the throng, and closely escorting them for 

 a few rods, brought down their hearts' blood in streams and their huge carcasses upon 

 the green and enameled turf. 



In this way this grand hunt soon resolved itself into a desperate battle, and in the 



