THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 473 



I saw guns flash about me in several directions, but I heard them not. 

 Amidst the trampling throng Mons. Chardon had wounded a stately 

 bull, and at this moment was passing him with his piece leveled for 

 another shot. They were both at full speed and I also, within the 

 reach of the muzzle of my gun, when the bull instantly turned, receiv- 

 ing the horse upon his horns, and the ground received poor Ghardon, 

 who made a frog's leap of some 20 feet or more over the bull's back 

 and almost under my horse's heels. I wheeled my horse as soon as 

 possible and rode back where lay poor Chardon, gasping to start his 

 breath again, and within a few paces of him his huge victim, with his 

 heels high in the air, and the horse lying across him. I dismounted in- 

 stantly, but Chardon was raising himself on his hands, with his eyes 

 and mouth full of dirt, and feeling for his gun, which lay about 30 feet 

 in advance of him. 'Heaven spare you! are you hurt, Chardon?' 



' Hi-hic — hie — hie — hie no ; — hie — no — no, I believe not. Oh, this 



is not much, Mons. Cataline — this is nothing new — but this is a d — d 

 hard piece of ground here — hie — oh! hie!' At this the poor fellow 

 fainted, but in a few moments arose, picked up his gun, took his horse 

 by the bit, which then opened its eyes, and with a hie and a ugh — 

 uglik ! — sprang upon its feet, shook off the dirt, and here we were, all 

 upon our legs again, save the bull, whose fate had been more sad than 

 that of either."* 



The following passage from Mr. Alexander Boss's graphic description 

 of a great hunt,t in which about four hundred hunters made an on- 

 slaught upon a herd, affords a good illustration of the dangers in run- 

 ning buffalo: 



" On this occasion the surface was rocky and full of badger-holes. 

 Twenty-three horses and riders were at one moment all sprawling on 

 the ground ; one horse, gored by a bull, was killed on the spot ; two 

 more were disabled by the fall ; one rider broke his shoulder-blade ; 

 another burst his gun and lost three of his fingers by the accident ; 

 and a third was struck on the knee by an exhausted ball. These acci- 

 dents will not be thought overnumerous, considering the result, for in 

 the evening no less than thirteen hundred and seventy-five tongues 

 were brought into camp. 



It really seems as if the horses of the plains entered willfully and 

 knowingly into the war on the doomed herds. But for the willingness 

 and even genuine eagerness with which the " buffalo horses "of both white 

 men and Indians entered into the chase, hunting on horseback would 

 have been attended with almost insurmountable difficulties, and the 

 results would have been much less fatal to the species. According to 

 all accounts the horses of the Indians and half-breeds were far better 

 trained than those of their white rivals, no doubt owing to the fact 

 that the use of the bow, which required the free use of both hands, 



* North American Indians, i, pp. 25-26. 

 tRed River Settlement, p. 256. 



