■ 396 WILD ANIMALS. 



animals, althougli Steven says lie saw the skin of one that had 

 been dried in Spain ; but this statement is hardly evidence of the 

 beast ever being there, and he may also have been mistaken 

 with respect to the nature of the hide. 



The flesh of the buffalo is very good eating, and although a 

 little coarser is better flavoured than a great deal of the beef that 

 is consumed, and by careful treatment, if domesticated, these 

 animals might be made as useful for food as the oxen at present 

 reared for that purpose, for the quality of the meat becomes under 

 these conditions vastly improved. If the government of the United 

 States took the matter np even at this late period, and extended the 

 protection they give to the animals in the Yellowstone Park, — 

 where it has been stated they do not thrive — to every remnant 

 of a herd existing in the country, bufialoes might yet be saved from 

 extinction. Farms for preserving and raising the stock should be 

 encouraged, and if used for no other purpose than the feeding of the 

 numerous bands of Indians that are now pensioners upon their 

 bounty, they would be of the greatest service. The experiment 

 of domesticating these animals, and utilizing them as beasts of 

 burden and for slaughtering, has already been tried on a small 

 scale on many farms, and some have met with considerable 

 success. Mr. Bedson, the governor of Stony Mountain Peni- 

 tentiary, fourteen miles from Winnipeg, has a herd of sixty 

 buffaloes, and they are yearly improving and increasing, so the 

 preservation of the breed is quite feasible. The hides are of more 

 value than those of any species of domestic animal, and in this 

 item alone would compensate for a considerable portion of the 

 expense, especially if the robes were given to Indians to tan, 

 for those tanned by white men are incomparably inferior to 

 and of less value than those known in the trade as Indian tanned. 

 For the red man takes a lot of pains, and besides has a method 

 which, while it makes the skin phable, does not reduce its thick- 

 ness to hold the hair, or its capabilities of withstanding rough 

 usage, which are the essential features of a good buffalo robe — 

 an article of considerable importance to the dwellers in the cold 

 regions of America. 



