﻿Ai-LEN] 
  DOMESTICATION 
  OF 
  THS 
  BUFFALO. 
  583 
  

  

  climate, 
  but 
  easy 
  access 
  to 
  its 
  haunts 
  from 
  the 
  Eastern 
  States 
  is 
  afforded 
  

   by 
  raih'oads, 
  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 
  

   nsually 
  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 
  climate 
  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 
  "the 
  wild 
  cows 
  and 
  oxen 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  which 
  are 
  to 
  be 
  met 
  with 
  

   in 
  Carolina 
  and 
  other 
  provinces 
  to 
  the 
  south 
  of 
  Pennsylvania," 
  had 
  been 
  

   obtained 
  by 
  "several 
  people 
  of 
  distinction," 
  who 
  "brought 
  them 
  up 
  

   among 
  the 
  tame 
  .cattle." 
  " 
  When 
  grown 
  up," 
  he 
  adds, 
  " 
  they 
  were 
  per- 
  

   fectly 
  tame, 
  but 
  at 
  the 
  same 
  time 
  very 
  nnruly, 
  so 
  that 
  there 
  was 
  no 
  in- 
  

   closure 
  strong 
  enough 
  to 
  resist 
  them 
  if 
  they 
  had 
  a 
  mind 
  to 
  break 
  through 
  

   it; 
  for 
  as 
  they 
  possess 
  a 
  great 
  strength 
  in 
  their 
  neck, 
  it 
  was 
  easy 
  for 
  

   them 
  to 
  overthrow 
  the 
  pales 
  with 
  their 
  horns 
  and 
  to 
  get 
  into 
  the 
  corn- 
  

   fields 
  ; 
  and 
  as 
  soon 
  as 
  they 
  had 
  made 
  a 
  road, 
  all 
  the 
  tame 
  cattle 
  followed 
  

   them. 
  They 
  likewise 
  copulated 
  with 
  the 
  latter, 
  and 
  by 
  that 
  means 
  gen- 
  

   erated, 
  as 
  it 
  were, 
  a 
  new 
  breed."* 
  

  

  Bernard 
  Romans 
  also 
  says 
  (writing 
  a 
  century 
  ago), 
  " 
  The 
  bounteous 
  

   hand 
  of 
  nature 
  has 
  here 
  given 
  us 
  an 
  animal 
  which, 
  hy 
  experience, 
  we 
  

   know 
  may 
  easily 
  be 
  domesticated, 
  whose 
  fine 
  wooll 
  might 
  yield 
  good 
  

   profit, 
  and 
  whose 
  flesh 
  is 
  equal 
  at 
  least 
  to 
  our 
  beef, 
  and 
  yields 
  as 
  much 
  

   tallow; 
  i 
  mean 
  the 
  buffaloe."t 
  

  

  Gallatin 
  also 
  says 
  that 
  they 
  were 
  not 
  only 
  domesticated 
  in 
  Virginia, 
  

   but 
  that 
  they 
  were 
  bred 
  with 
  domestic 
  cattle, 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  mixed 
  

   breed 
  was 
  fertile. 
  "As 
  doubts 
  have 
  lately 
  been 
  raised 
  upon 
  that 
  iioint," 
  

   he 
  says, 
  writing 
  forty 
  years 
  ago, 
  "I 
  must 
  say 
  that 
  the 
  mixed 
  breed 
  was 
  

   quite 
  common 
  fifty 
  [now 
  nioety] 
  years 
  ago, 
  in 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  northwestern 
  

   counties 
  of 
  Virginia 
  ; 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  cows, 
  the 
  issue 
  of 
  that 
  mixture, 
  

   propagated 
  like 
  all 
  others. 
  No 
  attemi^t 
  that 
  I 
  know 
  of 
  was 
  ever 
  made 
  

   by 
  the 
  inhabitants 
  to 
  tame 
  a 
  buffalo 
  of 
  full 
  growth. 
  But 
  calves 
  were 
  

   occasioually 
  caught 
  by 
  the 
  dogs 
  and 
  brought 
  alive 
  into 
  the 
  settlements. 
  

   A 
  bull 
  thus 
  raised 
  was 
  for 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  years 
  owned 
  in 
  my 
  immediate 
  

   vicinity 
  by 
  a 
  farmer 
  living 
  on 
  the 
  Monongahela, 
  adjoining 
  Mason 
  and 
  

   Dixon's 
  line. 
  He 
  was 
  permitted 
  to 
  roam 
  at 
  large, 
  and 
  was 
  no 
  more 
  

   dangerous 
  to 
  man 
  than 
  any 
  bull 
  of 
  the 
  common 
  species. 
  But 
  to 
  them 
  

   he 
  was 
  formidable, 
  and 
  would 
  not 
  suffer 
  any 
  to 
  approach 
  vrithiu 
  t^o 
  

   or 
  three 
  miles 
  of 
  his 
  own 
  range. 
  Most 
  of 
  the 
  co"ws 
  I 
  knew 
  were 
  

   descended 
  from 
  him. 
  For 
  want 
  of 
  a 
  fresh 
  supply 
  of 
  the 
  wild 
  animal 
  

   they 
  have 
  now 
  merged 
  into 
  the 
  common 
  kind. 
  They 
  were 
  no 
  favorites, 
  

   as 
  they 
  yielded 
  less 
  milk. 
  The 
  superior 
  size 
  and 
  strength 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  

   might 
  bave 
  improved 
  the 
  breed 
  of 
  oxen 
  for 
  draft, 
  but 
  this 
  was 
  not 
  

   attended 
  to, 
  horses 
  being 
  almost 
  exclusively 
  employed 
  in 
  that 
  quarter 
  

  

  * 
  Kalm 
  (Peter), 
  Travels 
  iu 
  North 
  America 
  (Forster'a 
  translation), 
  Vol. 
  "I, 
  p. 
  162. 
  

   + 
  Nat. 
  Hist, 
  of 
  East 
  and 
  "West 
  Florida, 
  p. 
  174. 
  

  

  