166 s THE BISON. 
Africa. Even when in company with others of their own species, they are 
liable to sudden bursts of emotion, and will rush blindly on, heedless of every- 
thing but the impulse that drives them forward. In one instance, the leader 
of the herd, being wounded, dropped on his knees, and was instantly crushed 
by the trampling hoofs of his comrades, as they rushed over the prostrate 
body of their chief. 
The Cape Buffalo, although so terrible an animal, is not so large as the arnee, 
being little larger than an ordinary ox, but possessed of much greater strength. 
The strangely shaped horns are black in colour, and so large that the distance 
between their points is not unfrequently from four or five feet. On account 
of their great width at their bases, they form a kind of bony helmet, which 
is impenetrable to an ordinary musket ball, and effectually defend their 
owner against the severe shocks which are frequently suffered by these testy 
animals. 
THE BISON is only found in Northern America, never appearing north of 
lat. 33°. It gathers together in enormous herds, consisting of many thousand 
in number, and in spite of the continual persecution to which it is subjected 
by man and beast, its multitudes are even now hardly diminished. The 
Bison is one of the most valuable of animals to the white hunter as well as 
to the aboriginal Red Indian, as its body supplies him with almost every 
necessary of life. : ; 
The flesh of the fat cow Bison is in great repute, being juicy, tender, and 
well-savoured, and possesses the invaluable quality of not cloying the appetite, 
even though it be eaten with the fierce hunger that is. generated by a day’s 
hunting. The fat is peculiarly excellent, and is said to bear some resemb- 
lance to the celebrated green fat of the turtle. The most delicate portion of 
the Bison is the flesh 
that composes the 
“hump,” which gives to 
the animal’s back so 
strange an aspect ; and 
the hunters are so fond 
of this delicacy that they 
will often slay a magni- 
ficent Bison merely fer 
y the sake of the, hump, 
\} the tongue, and the 
\ marrow-bones, leaving 
the remainder of the 
body to the wolves and 
birds. 
The hide is greatly 
valued both by Indians 
and civilised men, for 
the many purposes which 
it fulfils. From this 
hide the Indian makes 
his tents, many parts of 
BISUN.—(Bison Ameruanus.) his dress, his bed, and 
his shield. For nearly 
the whole of these uses the skin is deprived of hair, and is so dressed as 
to be impervious to water, and yet soft and pliable. The shield is very 
ingeniously made by pegging out the hide upon the ground with a multitude 
of little wooden skewers round its edge, imbuing it with a kind of glue, 
and gradually removing the pegs in proportion to the consequent shrinking 
nadia 
