THE HUNTING-SADDLE. 53 
his interest, my equine companions got several feeds of 
corn, to which they had long been unaccustomed. The 
night passed discussing old friends, a flask of brandy, and a 
package of kinnikinic tobacco; and when, on the morrow, 
I shook his sterling hand at parting, before recommencing 
my journey, he presented me with a few more feeds of 
grain, which, without doubt, materially assisted my four- 
footed friends in rapidly traversing the balance of the de- 
batable ground. 
The visitor to the plains desirous of hunting buffalo, and 
doing so comfortably and under the most advantageous cir- 
cumstances, should always take his saddlery with him. ‘A 
hunting-saddle from Peat, or Wilkinson and Kidd, made 
of the best pig-skin, would be my choice, remembering al- 
ways to be provided with spare girths. The high-peaked 
saddle generally used in the West has advantages for front- 
ier use; but for a firm seat, hard and rough riding, give me 
our English production. A double-reined snaftle I would 
take in preference to all bridles. At the same time, much 
depends on how a horse’s mouth has been made. If the 
nag in his youth had his jaws dislocated with a barbarous 
Mexican bit, a snaffle will have no more power of control 
over his actions than officers over a panic-stricken regiment. 
I once possessed such a beast. The rider with a snafile 
might as well have pulled at a stalwart oak as at this crea- 
ture’s mouth. He was a light-necked, star-gazing, hot-tem- 
pered beast. The scrapes he got me in were so numerous, 
that to this day I wonder he did not break my néck. Of 
the arms most suitable for buffalo-shooting from horseback, 
I believe the large-bore breech-loading revolver the best. - 
They are easily loaded while on the gallop; for the muzzle 
can be placed between your thigh and the flap of the sad- 
dle, and thus held. For my part, I used a double-barreled 
shot-gun, with the barrels reduced to twenty-two inches in 
