The Last of the Buffalo 



every side, stretched out in one continu- 

 ous host to the most distant hills. Thus 

 was gained a more just notion of their 

 numbers than could be had in any other 

 way ; for the sight of this limitless territory 

 occupied by these continuous herds was 

 more impressive than the spectacle of a 

 surging, terrified mass of fleeing buffalo, 

 even though the numbers which passed 

 rapidly before one's gaze in a short time 

 were very great. 



The former range of the buffalo has 

 been worked out with painstaking care by 

 Dr. J. A. Allen, to whom we owe an ad- 

 mirable monograph on this species. He 

 concludes that the northern limit of this 

 range was north of the Great Slave Lake, 

 in latitude about 63° N. ; while to the 

 south it extended into Mexico as far as 

 latitude 25° N. To the west it ranged at 

 least as far as the Blue Mountains of Ore- 

 gon ; while on the east it was abundant in 

 the western portions of New York, Penn- 

 sylvania, Virginia, North and South Car- 

 olina, and Georgia. In the interior the 

 buffalo were very abundant, and occupied 

 Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennes- 

 see, western Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and 

 Iowa, parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, and 

 Minnesota, the whole of the great plains, 

 207 



