Th£ Last of the Buffalo 



method, as practised twenty years ago, and 

 exclusively with the bow and arrow, I have 

 already written at some length in another 

 place. 



To the white travellers on the plains in 

 early days the buffalo furnished support 

 and sustenance. Their abundance made 

 fresh meat readily obtainable ; and the early 

 travellers usually carried with them bundles 

 of dried jneat, or sacks of pemmican, food 

 made from the flesh of the buffalo, that 

 contained a great deal of nutriment in very 

 small bulk. Robes were used for bed- 

 ding; and in winter buffalo moccasins were 

 worn for warmth, the hair side within. 

 Coats of buffalo skin are the warmest cov- 

 ering known, the only garment which will 

 present an effective barrier to the bitter 

 blasts that sweep over the plains of the 

 Northwest. 



Perhaps as useful to early travellers as 

 any product of the buffalo was the " buf- 

 falo chip," or dried dung. This, being 

 composed of comminuted woody fibre of 

 the grass, made an excellent fuel, and in 

 many parts of the treeless plains was the 

 only substance which could be used to 

 cook with. 



The dismal story of the extermination 

 of the buffalo for its hides has been so 



239 



