﻿496 
  KEPORT 
  UNITED 
  STATES 
  GEOLOGICAL 
  SURVEY. 
  

  

  certainly 
  show 
  that 
  the 
  buffalo 
  was 
  absent 
  both 
  from 
  Florida 
  andGeorgia, 
  

   during 
  the 
  early 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  sixteenth 
  century, 
  and 
  I 
  have 
  found 
  no; 
  

   writers 
  who 
  claim 
  to 
  have 
  ever 
  seen 
  the 
  living 
  buffalo 
  at 
  any 
  time 
  in- 
  

   any 
  part 
  of 
  Florida, 
  or 
  of 
  Southern 
  and 
  Eastern 
  Georgia. 
  In 
  the 
  many' 
  

   enumerations 
  of 
  the 
  natural 
  productions 
  of 
  Florida 
  (as 
  at 
  present 
  re- 
  

   stricted) 
  made 
  prior 
  to 
  the 
  beginning 
  of 
  the 
  present 
  century, 
  based 
  on 
  

   personal 
  observations, 
  the 
  buffalo 
  is 
  absent 
  from 
  all. 
  Eomans, 
  it 
  is 
  true, 
  

   supposed 
  he 
  saw 
  its 
  tracks, 
  but 
  this, 
  in 
  the 
  light 
  of 
  other 
  contempora- 
  

   neous 
  history 
  of 
  the 
  region, 
  seems 
  wholly 
  improbable. 
  Eoberts, 
  writing 
  

   a 
  few 
  years 
  before 
  Eomans 
  wrote, 
  says, 
  "The 
  wild 
  animals 
  found 
  in 
  this 
  

   country 
  are 
  the 
  panther, 
  bear, 
  catamountain, 
  stag, 
  goat, 
  hare, 
  rabbit, 
  

   beaver, 
  otter, 
  fox, 
  raccoon, 
  and 
  squirrel,"* 
  

  

  Had 
  the 
  buffalo 
  formerly 
  inhabited 
  Florida, 
  it 
  seems 
  probable 
  that 
  its 
  

   remains 
  would 
  occur 
  in 
  the 
  shell-mounds 
  of 
  that 
  State 
  ; 
  but 
  Professor 
  

   Wyman 
  specializes 
  the 
  buffalo 
  as 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  animals 
  whose 
  remains 
  he 
  

   had 
  not 
  found 
  in 
  the 
  mounds 
  of 
  Florida, 
  although 
  he 
  had 
  obtained 
  the 
  

   bones 
  of 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  other 
  large 
  species 
  of 
  Florida 
  mammals 
  from 
  them, 
  

   among 
  which 
  he 
  enumerates 
  those 
  of 
  the 
  bear, 
  raccoon, 
  hare, 
  deer, 
  otter, 
  

   and 
  opossum, 
  together 
  with 
  those 
  of 
  the 
  turkey 
  and 
  alligator, 
  and 
  of 
  

   several 
  different 
  species 
  of 
  turtles 
  and 
  flshes.t 
  If 
  the 
  buffalo 
  was 
  ever 
  

   an 
  inhabitant 
  of 
  the 
  present 
  State 
  of 
  Florida, 
  it 
  seems 
  to 
  me 
  fully 
  evi- 
  

   dent 
  that 
  it 
  must 
  have 
  existed 
  there 
  at 
  a 
  comparatively 
  recent 
  date, 
  and 
  

   for 
  only 
  a 
  very 
  short 
  period. 
  As 
  will 
  be 
  presently 
  shown, 
  the 
  buffalo 
  

   temporarily 
  occupied 
  portions 
  of 
  the 
  Gulf 
  States 
  during 
  the 
  early 
  part 
  

   of 
  the 
  eighteenth 
  century, 
  from 
  which 
  it 
  was 
  absent 
  in 
  De 
  Soto's 
  time. 
  

  

  SOUTHERN 
  BOUNDARY 
  OF 
  THE 
  RANGE 
  OF 
  THE 
  BUFFALO 
  EAST 
  OF 
  THE 
  

  

  MISSISSIPPI. 
  

  

  As 
  already 
  shown, 
  there 
  is 
  apparently 
  no 
  record 
  of 
  the 
  occurrence 
  of 
  

   the 
  buffalo 
  in 
  the 
  present 
  States 
  of 
  Florida 
  and 
  Georgia, 
  except 
  over 
  a 
  

   small 
  area 
  west 
  of 
  the 
  Savannah 
  Eiver 
  adjoining 
  the 
  Abbeville 
  District 
  

   in 
  South 
  Carolina. 
  It 
  was 
  apparently 
  also 
  altogether 
  absent 
  from 
  the 
  

   rest 
  of 
  the 
  Gulf 
  States 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi, 
  at 
  the 
  time 
  this 
  region 
  

   was 
  visited 
  by 
  Europeans. 
  Certainly 
  it 
  was 
  not 
  met 
  with 
  by 
  De 
  Soto 
  

   in 
  his 
  journey 
  across 
  this 
  region 
  in 
  1540-'41, 
  during 
  which 
  journey 
  he 
  

   explored 
  the 
  Coosa 
  Eiver 
  from 
  its 
  source 
  to 
  its 
  junction 
  with 
  the 
  Ala- 
  

   bama, 
  and 
  descended 
  the 
  latter 
  to 
  its 
  union 
  with 
  the 
  Tombigbee. 
  He 
  

   thus 
  crossed 
  the 
  State 
  of 
  Alabama 
  diagonally 
  from 
  northeast 
  to 
  south- 
  ^ 
  

   west, 
  and 
  afterward 
  traversed 
  what 
  is 
  now 
  the 
  State 
  of 
  Mississippi, 
  also 
  ■ 
  

  

  diagonally, 
  from 
  the 
  southeast 
  to 
  the 
  northwest.^ 
  De 
  Soto 
  learned 
  ' 
  

  

  !^ 
  . 
  ■ 
  i 
  

  

  by 
  the 
  natives. 
  They 
  had 
  found 
  among 
  them 
  a 
  buffalo 
  hide 
  an 
  inch 
  in 
  thickness, 
  with 
  j 
  

   hair 
  as 
  soft 
  as 
  the 
  ^ool 
  of 
  a 
  sheep, 
  which, 
  as 
  usual, 
  they 
  mistook 
  for 
  the 
  hide 
  of 
  ^ 
  

   a 
  beef. 
  In 
  the 
  course'of 
  their 
  journey 
  they 
  had 
  crossed 
  mountains 
  [supposed 
  to 
  be 
  the 
  * 
  

   Lookout 
  Mountains] 
  so 
  rugged 
  and 
  precipitous 
  that 
  it 
  would 
  be 
  impossible 
  for 
  the 
  /. 
  

   army 
  to 
  traverse 
  them." 
  — 
  Irving 
  (Thomas), 
  Conquest 
  of 
  Florida, 
  p. 
  244. 
  j 
  

  

  The 
  Gentleman 
  of 
  Elvas 
  says 
  (Hakluyt's 
  translation), 
  they 
  "brought 
  an 
  oxe 
  hide, 
  , 
  

   which 
  the 
  Indians 
  gave 
  them, 
  as 
  thinneas 
  a 
  calves 
  skinne, 
  and 
  the 
  haire 
  like 
  a 
  soft 
  wool], 
  . 
  

   betweene 
  the 
  course 
  and 
  fine 
  wooU 
  of 
  sheepe." 
  — 
  Discovery 
  and 
  Conquest 
  of 
  Terra 
  Florida 
  : 
  

   (Hakluyt 
  Society 
  j, 
  p. 
  66. 
  

  

  * 
  Roberts 
  (Wm.), 
  An 
  Account 
  of 
  the 
  First 
  Discovery 
  and 
  Natural 
  History 
  of 
  Florida, 
  

   1763, 
  p. 
  4. 
  

  

  t 
  Mem. 
  Peabody 
  Acad. 
  Sciences, 
  Vol. 
  I, 
  pp. 
  78, 
  80. 
  

  

  X 
  For 
  authorities 
  on 
  the 
  Route 
  of 
  De 
  Soto, 
  see 
  Biedma's 
  Narrative, 
  and 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  

   Gentleman 
  of 
  Elvas, 
  in 
  French's 
  Historical 
  Collection 
  of 
  Louisiana, 
  Vol. 
  II, 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  

   Hakluyt 
  Society's 
  publications 
  (1851), 
  with 
  an 
  Introduction, 
  Notes, 
  and 
  a 
  Map 
  by 
  W. 
  

   B. 
  Rye; 
  McCulloch's 
  Researches; 
  Gallatin's 
  Synopsis 
  of 
  the 
  Indian 
  Tribes 
  (ArchsEolo- 
  

   gia 
  Americana, 
  Vol. 
  II) 
  ; 
  Pickett's 
  History 
  of 
  Alabama, 
  etc. 
  ; 
  Nuttall's 
  Journal 
  of 
  Travels 
  

   into 
  the 
  Arkansas 
  Territory 
  ; 
  Meek's 
  Sketches 
  of 
  the 
  History 
  of 
  Alabama 
  (Southron 
  

  

  