THE BUFFALO. 



By Orin Belknap ("Uncle Fdller"). 



fEOM the savannas of Georgia to the shores of the 

 I Great Lakes on the east, and from the waters of the 

 Gulf of Mexico to the plains of the Saskatchewan on 

 ^p° the west, the American Bison' (Bos Americanus) 

 roamed in numbers countless almost as the blades of the 

 grass upon which they fed, when the destroying European 

 iirst met the eastern vanguard of their mighty host. From 

 the brine of the Atlantic to the cliffs of the Rocky Mount- 

 ains, wherever the camp-fire of the wandering Indian shone 

 in wigwam, lodge, or tepee, within sight of its curling 

 smoke was found the strange ruminant, the robe, flesh, 

 and sinews of which constituted the principal source of his 

 wealth, and the possession of which rendered him the most 

 independent of savages, and the best fed human animal on 

 the globe. 



The amazing numbers and wide distribution of the Bison 

 greatly facilitated the early exploration and development 

 of the interior of the great continent. 



The rugged Scottish pioneers of the Selkirk Settlement, 

 on the shore of Hudson' s Bay — whose only communication 

 with civilization for more than one hundred years was by 

 means of the single ship which made its annual voyage 

 from Europe to those lonely shores — found, in the grazing 

 herds which dotted the adjacent plains, a plentiful source 

 of the flesh diet so necessary in that high latitude; while 

 the hardy voyageur of the Hudson's Bay Company, on his 

 commercial mission to the savage tribes of the far North- 

 west, carried With him into the frozen regions, in the form 

 of pemmican made of the dried flesh and fat of the Bison, 

 the only food that proved to be nutritious enough to 



(SOT) 



