474 EEPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



was only possible when the horse took the right course of his own free 

 will or else could be guided by the pressure of the knees. If we may 

 believe the historians of that period, and there is not the slightest 

 reason to doubt them, the " buffalo horses" of the Indians displayed al- 

 most as much intelligence and eagerness in the chase as did their 

 human riders. Indeed, in "running buffalo" with only the bow and 

 arrow, nothing but the willing co-operation of the horse could have 

 possibly made this mode of hunting either satisfactory or successful. 



In Lewis and Clarke's Travels, volume n, page 387, appears the fol- 

 lowing record: 



" He [Sergeant Pryor] had found it almost impossible with two men to 

 drive on the remaining horses, for as soon as they discovered a herd of 

 buffaloes the loose horses immediately set off in pursuit of them, and 

 surrounded the buffalo herd with almost as much skill as their riders 

 could have done. At last he was obliged to send one horseman forward 

 and drive all the buffaloes from the route." 



The Hon. H. H. Sibley, who once accompanied the Red Eiver half- 

 breeds on their annual hunt, relates the following : * 



" One of the hunters fell from his saddle, and was unable to overtake 

 his horse, which continued the chase as if he of himself could accom- 

 plish great things, so much do these animals become imbued with a 

 passion for this sport ! On another occasion a half-breed left his 

 favorite steed at the camp, to enabJe him to recruit his strength, enjoin- 

 ing upon his wife the necessity of properly securing the animal, which 

 was not done. Not relishing the idea of being left behind, he started 

 after us and soon was alongside, and thus he continued to keep pace with 

 the hunters in their pursuit of the buffalo, seeming to await with im- 

 patience the fall of some of them to the earth. The chase ended, he 

 came neighing to his master, whom he soon singled out, although the 

 men were dispersed here and there for a distance of miles." 



Col. R. I. Dodge, in his Plains of the Great West, page 129, describes 

 a meeting with two Mexican buffalo-hunters whose horses were so fleet 

 and so well trained that whenever a herd of buffalo came in sight, in- 

 stead of shooting their game wherever they came up with it, the one 

 having the best horse would dash into the herd, cut out a fat two-year 

 old, and, with the help of his partner, then actually drive it to their 

 camp before shooting it down. " They had a fine lot of meat and a 

 goodly pile of skins, and they said that every buffalo had been driven 

 into camp and killed as the one I saw. 'It saves a heap of trouble 

 packing the meat to camp,' said one of them, naively." 



Probably never before in the history of the world, until civilized man 

 came in contact with the buffalo, did whole armies of men march out 

 in true military style, with officers, flags, chaplains, and rules of war, 

 and make war on wild animals. No wonder the buffalo has been ex- 

 terminated. So long as they existed north of the Missouri in any con- 



* Schoolcraft's " North American Indians," 108. 



