ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 55 



teenth century, in the north-west of Mexico, in 40 latitude, 

 an Indian tribe, whose principal riches consisted in herds of 

 tame bisons (bueyes con una giba). But notwithstanding 

 the possibility of taming the bison, notwithstanding the 

 quantity of milk it yields, and notwithstanding the herds of 

 lamas in the Cordilleras of Peru, no pastoral life or pastoral 

 people were found when America was discovered, and there 

 is no historical evidence of this intermediate stage in the life 

 of nations ever having existed there. It is worthy of remark 

 that the American buffalo or bison has exerted an influence 

 on the progress of geography in trackless mountainous 

 regions. These animals wander in the winter, in search of 

 a milder climate, in herds of several thousands to the 

 south of the Arkansas River. In these migrations their 

 size and unwieldiness make it difficult for them to pass 

 over high mountains. When, therefore, a well-trodden 

 buffalo path is met with, it is advisable to follow it, as being 

 sure to conduct to the most convenient pass across the 

 mountains. The best routes through the Cumberland 

 Mountains, in the south-west parts of Virginia a-nd Ken- 

 tucky, in the Eocky Mountains between the sources of the 

 Yellow Stone and the Platte, and between the southern 

 branch of the Columbia and the Eio Colorado of California, 

 were thus marked out beforehand by buffalo paths. The 

 advance of settlement and cultivation has gradually driven 

 the buffalo from all the Eastern states : they formerly 

 roamed on the banks of the Mississipi and of the Ohio far 

 beyond Pittsburg. (Archaeologia Americana, vol. ii., 1836, 

 p. 139.) 



