BUFFALO BUNTS. 229 
During the winter of 1842 and 43, as we were 
told, buffaloes were abundant around Fort 
Union, and during the night picked up strag- 
gling handfuls of hay that happened to be 
scattered about the place. An attempt was 
made to secure some of them alive, by strewing 
hay as a bait, from the interior of the old fort, 
which is about two hundred yards off, to some 
distance from the gateway, hoping the animals 
would feed along into the enclosure. They ate 
the hay to the very gate; but as the hogs and 
common cattle were regularly placed there, for 
security, during the night, the buffaloes would 
not enter, probably on account of the various 
odours issuing from the interior. As the buffa- 
loes generally found some hay scattered around, 
they soon became accustomed to sleep in the 
vicinity of the fort, but went off every morning, 
and disappeared behind the hills, about a mile 
off. 
One night they were fired at, from a four 
pounder loaded with musket-balls. Three were 
killed, and several were wounded, but this dis- 
aster did not prevent them from returning 
frequently to the fort at night, and they were 
ovcesionally shot, during the whole winter, quite 
near the fort. 
As various accounts c* buffalo hunts have 
been already written, we will pass over our 
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