THE BUFFALO. 39 
much more extensive than at present. The same reasons 
that have decreased, and in some instances almost annihi- 
lated, other genera, can be safely urged as the cause of this 
—the cultivation of wild lands and the unprecedented in- 
crease of inhabitants on the American continent. On the 
eastern limit of the Grand Prairie, in Illinois, I have fre- 
quently found bones of the buffalo, telling too plainly that 
this had once been his home. At the present day, at least 
twelve hundred miles farther westward must be traversed 
before the sportsman can hope for a chance to use his rifle 
on this game; and year after year farther distances will re- 
quire to be journeyed to accomplish this purpose. Their 
southern limits are Northern Texas and New Mexico, while 
the intermediate expanse up to sixty-five degrees of north 
latitude, according to the season, contains them in more or 
less abundance. Of late years their range north has been 
increased between three and four degrees, so that Indians 
who formerly had to come two hundred or more miles, if 
desirous of obtaining a supply of beef for winter use, have 
the animals now on their home hunting-grounds. Iam dis- 
posed to believe that this is caused from their finding these 
northern regions less disturbed — for this is far north of 
where the constant tide of emigrants crosses the plains— 
and that the poor, persecuted creatures prefer suffering 
from the cold of these inhospitable localities to facing the 
dangers that always are connected with a rencontre with 
the pale-face. Although the buffalo can endure a great 
amount of cold, and find food even after a thick covering 
of snow lays upon the earth, yet he is not provided like the 
musk-sheep for an Arctic winter, and from his greater bulk 
requires so much sustenance, that a protracted sojourn in 
the northern barrens must ultimately have the result of re- 
ducing his strength, and therefore his fitness to copé with 
the severity of the climate. Again, he has other enemies 
