THE BUFFALO. 22) 
CHAPTER XVII. 
THE BUFFALO. 
HETHER we consider this noble animal 
as an object of the chase, or as an article 
of food for man, it is decidedly the most im- 
portant of all our contemporary American quad- 
rupeds; and as we can no longer see the gigan- 
tic mastodon passing over the broad savannas, 
or laving his enormous sides in the deep rivers 
of our wide-spread land, we will consider the 
buffalo as a link (perhaps sooner to be forever 
lost than is generally supposed) which to a 
slight degree yet connects us with larger Ameri- 
can animals, belonging to extinct creations. 
But ere we endeavour to place before you the 
living and the breathing herds of buffaloes, you 
must journey with us in imagination to the vast 
western prairies, the secluded and most inacces- 
sible valleys of the Rocky Mountain chain, and 
the arid and nearly impassable deserts of the 
western table lands of our country; and here 
we may be allowed to express our deep, though 
19* 
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