376 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



nepin ascended the St. Lawrence to the great lakes, and finally pene- 

 trated the great wilderness as far as western Illinois. 



The next meeting with the buffalo on the Atlantic slope was in Octo- 

 ber, 1729, by a party of surveyors under Col. William Byrd, who were 

 engaged in surveying the boundary between North Carolina and Vir- 

 ginia. 



As the party journeyed up from the coast, marking the line which 

 now constitutes the interstate boundary, three buffaloes were seen on 

 Sugar-Tree Creek, but none of them were killed. 



On the return journey, in November, a bull buffalo was killed on 

 Sugar-Tree Creek, which is in Halifax County, Virginia, within 5 miles 

 of Big Buffalo Creek ; longitude 78° 40" W., and 155 miles from the 

 coast.* " It was found all alone, tho' Buffaloes Seldom are." The meat 

 is spoken of as " a Rarity," not met at all on the expedition up. The 

 animal was found in thick woods, which were thus feelingly described : 

 " The woods were thick great Part of this Day's Journey, so that we 

 were forced to scuffle hard to advance 7 miles, being equal in fatigue to 

 double that distance of Clear and Open Ground." One of the creeks 

 which the party crossed was christened Buffalo Creek, and " so named 

 from the frequent tokens we discovered of that American Behemoth." 



In October, 1733, on another surveying expedition, Colonel Byrd's 

 party had the good fortune to kill another buffalo near Sugar-Tree Creek, 

 which incident is thus described :t 



" We pursued our journey thro' uneven and perplext woods, and in 

 the thickest of them had the Fortune to knock down a SToung Buffalo 

 2 years old. Providence threw this vast animal in our way very Season- 

 ably, just as our provisions began to fail us. And it was the more wel- 

 come, too, because it was change of dyet, which of all Varietys, next to 

 that of Bed-fellows, is the most agreeable. We had lived upon Venison 

 and Bear till our stomachs loath'd them almost as much as the Hebrews 

 of old did their Quails. Our Butchers were so unhandy at their Busi- 

 ness that we grew very lank before we cou'd get our Dinner. But when 

 it came, we found it equal in goodness to the best Beef. They made it 

 the longer because they kept Sucking the Water out of the Guts in im- 

 itation of the Catauba Indians, upon the belief that it is a great Cordial, 

 and will even make them drunk, or at least very Gay." 



A little later a solitary bull buffalo was found, but spared^ the earliest 

 instance of the kind on record, and which had few successors to keep it 

 company. 



II. Geographical Distribution. 



The range of the American bison extended over about one-third of 

 the entire continent of North America. Starting almost at tide- water 



* Westover Manuscript. Col. William Byrd. Vol. I, p. 172. 

 t Vol. ii, pp. 24, 25, 

 X lb., p. 28. 



