THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 477 



not blame the half-breed and the Indian for leaving the farm and wildly 

 making for the plains when it is reported that buffalo have crossed the 

 border." 



The " great fall hunt" was a regular event with about all the Indian 

 tribes living within striking distance of the buffalo, in the course of 

 which great numbers of buffalo were killed, great quantities of meat 

 dried and made into pemmican, and all the skins taken were tanned in 

 various ways to suit the many purposes they were called upon to serve. 



Mr. Francis La Flesche informs me that during the presence of the 

 buffalo in western Nebraska and until they were driven south by the 

 Sioux, the fall hunt of the Omahas was sometimes participated in by 

 three hundred lodges, or about 3,000 people all told, six hundred of 

 whom were warriors, and each of whom generally killed about ten buf- 

 faloes. The laws of the hunt were very strict and inexorable. In order 

 that all participants should have an equal chance, it was decreed that 

 any hunter caught " still-hunting" should be soundly flogged. On one 

 occasion an Indian was discovered in the act, but not caught. During 

 the chase which was made to capture him many arrows were fired at 

 him by the police, but being better mounted than his pursuers he 

 escaped, and kept clear of the camp during the remainder of the hunt. 

 On another occasion an Omaha, guilty of the same offense, was chased, 

 and in his effort to escape his horse fell with him in a coulee and broke 

 one of his legs. In spite of the sad plight of the Omaha, his pursuers 

 came up and flogged him, just as if nothing had happened. 



After the invention of the Colt's revolver, and breech-loading rifles 

 generally, the chase on horseback speedily became more fatal to the 

 bison than it ever had been before. With such weapons, it was possi- 

 ble to gallop into the midst of a flying herd and, during the course of 

 a run of 2 or 3 miles, discharge from twelve to forty shots at a range of 

 only a few yards, or even a few feet. In this kind of hunting the heavy 

 Navy revolver was the favorite weapon, because it could be held in one 

 hand aud fired with far greater precision than could a rifle held in 

 both hands. Except in the hands of an expert, the use of the rifle was 

 limited, and often attended with risk to the hunter; but the revolver 

 was good for all directions ; it could very often be used with deadly 

 effect where a rifle could not have been used at all, and, moreover, it 

 left the bridle-hand free. Many cavalrymen and hunters were able to 

 use a revolver with either hand, or one in each hand. Gen. Lew. Wal- 

 lace preferred the Smith and Wesson in 1867, which he declared to be 

 " the best of revolvers " then. 



It was his marvelous skill in shooting buffaloes with a rifle, from the 

 back of a galloping horse, that earned for the Hon. W. F. Cody the 

 sobriquet by which he is now familiarly known to the world — " Buffalo 

 Bill." To the average hunter on horseback the galloping of the horse 

 makes it easy for him to aim at the heart of a buffalo and shoot clear 

 over its back. No other shooting is so difficult, or requires such con- 



