Tht Last of the Buffalo 



rough cliffs, where the fall crippled or 

 killed most of the animals which went 

 over. In such situations, no enclosure was 

 built at the foot of the precipice. 



In the later days of the piskun in the 

 north, the man who brought the buffalo 

 often went to them on horseback, riding 

 a white horse. He would ride backward 

 and forward before them, zig-zagging this 

 way and that ; and after a little they would 

 follow him. He never attempted to drive, 

 but always led them. The driving began 

 only after the herd had passed the outer 

 rock piles, and the people had begun to 

 rise up and frighten them. 



This method of securing meat has been 

 practised in Montana within thirty years, 

 and even more recently among the Plains 

 Crees of the north. I have seen the re- 

 mains oi o\6.phkuns, and the guiding wings 

 of the chute, and have talked with many 

 men who have taken part in such killings. 



All this had to do, of course, with the 

 primitive methods of buffalo killing. As 

 soon as horses became abundant, and sheet- 

 iron arrow-heads, and later, guns, were se- 

 cured by the Indians, these old practices 

 began to give way to the more exciting 

 pursuit of running buffalo and of surround- 

 ing them on horseback. Of this modern 

 238 



