384 WILD ANIMALS. 



steeds and herds, I should say that it was not so inspiriting or 

 successful as a drive organized by western hunters or sportsmen. 



" The half-breeds of portions of British America organize regular 

 hunts also, and on such occasions they take all their household 

 effects with them. The women and children are stowed away in 

 rude carts, and the men ride the mustangs which are to play so 

 prominent a part in the chase. As the long cavalcade winds over 

 the grass-clad prairie, made gay with many species of brilliant 

 wild flowers, it presents an inspiriting sight, and recalls in a small 

 way the advance of an army. When it reaches the buffalo- 

 grounds a camp is pitched in a convenient locality, close to wood 

 and water if possible, and after that is done the leader takes his 

 men to the leeward of a herd, and distributes them in such a 

 manner that they may be able to drive it towards the encampment, 

 in order to avoid as much trouble as possible in gathering up the 

 meat. They sometimes place buffalo, " chips " in such a manner 

 on the prairie, as to make them look like men, and when the herd 

 see these, it breaks away from them and heads perhaps for the 

 camp, where another party of hunters is ready to receive it. 

 "When everything is arranged, the men close in gradually on the 

 thousands of shaggy creatures that dot the plain, probably 

 as far as the eye can see, and on arriving within charging 

 distance they dash on at the best speed of their horses. ' Then 

 commences a scene to which no pencil can do full justice. The 

 alarmed throngs, on seeing their foes, break away in wild 

 terror, the cows being generally at the head of the column owing 

 to their greater fleetness and lightness, and the calves being next 

 to them, while the burly bulls close the rear and flanks. This 

 terrified host causes the ground to fairly tremble beneath its 

 weight, and the noise of its movements may be heard a long 

 distance off, as it is not unlike the roar of an advancing hurricane. 



"When the hunters range alongside the crowding multitude, they 

 use rifle and revolver so rapidly that the noise sounds like the 

 firing of a heavy body of skirmishers. They require few shots to 

 kill an animal, one or two being generally sufficient, for their 

 trained buffalo-runners carry them so close to the herd that a 

 bullet can be planted in whatever portion of the body the hunter 



