THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 451 



hard as possible, the ends of the hairs protude so persistently that the 

 surface of each rope is extremely hairy. 



Buffalo chips — Last, but by no means least in value to the traveler on 

 the treeless plains, are the droppings of the buffalo, universally known 

 as "buffalo chips." When over one year old and thoroughly dry, 

 this material makes excellent fuel. Usually it occurs only where fire- 

 wood is unobtainable, and thousands of frontiersmen have a million 

 times found it of priceless value. When dry, it catches easily, burns 

 readily, and makes a hot fire with but very little smoke, although it is 

 rapidly consumed. Although not as good for a fire as even the poorest 

 timber it is infinitely better than sage-brush, which, in the absence of 

 chips, is often the traveler's last resort. 



It usually happens that chips are most abundant in the sheltered 

 creek-bottoms and near the water-holes, the very situations which trav- 

 elers naturally select for their camps. In these spots the herds have 

 gathered either for shelter in winter or for water in summer, and re- 

 mained in a body for some hours. And now, when the cow-boy on the 

 round-up, the surveyor, or hunter, who must camp out,, pitches his tent 

 in the grassy coulee or narrow creek-bottom, his first care is to start out 

 with his largest gunning-bag to "rustle some buffalo chips" for a camp- 

 fire. He, at least, when he returns well laden with the spoil of his hum- 

 ble chase, still has good reason to remember the departed herd with 

 feelings of gratitude. Thus even the last remains of this most useful 

 animal are utilized by man in providing for his own imperative wants. 



IX. The Present Value of the Bison to Cattle-Growers. 



The bison in captivity and domestication. — Almost from time imme- 

 morial it has been known that the American bison takes kiudly to cap- 

 tivity, herds contentedly with domestic cattle, and crosses with them 

 with the utmost readiness. It was formerly believed, and indeed the 

 tradition prevails even now to quite an extent, that on account of the 

 hump on the shoulders a domestic cow could not give birth to a half- 

 breed calf. This belief is entirely without foundation, and is due to 

 theories rather than facts. 



Numerous experiments in buffalo breeding have been made, and the 

 subject is far from being a new one. As early as 1701 the Hugeuot 

 settlers at Manikiutown, on the James River, a few miles above Rich- 

 mond, began to domesticate buffaloes. It is also a matter of historical 

 record that in 1786, or thereabouts, buffaloes were domesticated and 

 bred in captivity in Virginia, and Albert Gallatin states that in some 

 of the northwestern counties the mixed breed was quite common. In 

 1815 a series of elaborate and valuable experiments in cross-breeding 

 the buffalo and domestic cattle was begun by Mr. Robert Wicklilfe, of 

 Lexington, Ky., and continued by him for upwards of thirty years.* 



* For a full account of Mr. Wickliffe's experiments, written by himself, see Audu- 

 bon and Bucnniau's " Quadrupeds of North America," vol. n, pp. 52-54, 



