THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 447 



beef, I have become somewhat skeptical in regard to the intelligence of 

 the human palate. 



As a matter of experiment, during our hunt for buffalo we had buffalo 

 meat of all ages, from one year up to eleven, cooked in as many differ- 

 ent ways as our culiuary department could turn out. AVe had it broiled, 

 fried with batter, roasted, boiled, and stewed. The last method, when 

 employed upon slices of meat that had been hacked from a frozen hind- 

 quarter, produced results that were undeniably tough and not partic- 

 ularly good. But it was an unfair way to cook any kind of meat, and 

 may be guarantied to spoil the finest beef in the world. 



Hump meat from a cow buffalo not too old, cut in slices and fried in 

 batter, a la cow-boy, is delicious — a dish fit for the gods. We had 

 tongues in plenty, but the ordinary meat was so good they were not 

 half appreciated. Of course the tenderloin was above criticism, and 

 even the round steaks, so lightly esteemed by the epicure, were tender 

 and juicy to a most satisfactory degree. 



It has been said that the meat of the buffalo has a coarser texture 

 or ''grain" than domestic beef. Although I expected to find such to 

 be the case, I found no perceptible difference whatever, nor do I be- 

 lieve that any exists. As to the distribution of fat I am unable to say, 

 for the reason that our buffaloes were not fat. 



It is highly probable that the distribution of fat through the meat, so 

 characteristic of the shorthorn breeds, and which has been brought 

 about only by careful breeding, is not found in either the beef of the 

 buffalo or common range cattle. In this respect, shorthorn beef no 

 doubt surpasses both the others mentioned, but in all other points, 

 texture, flavor, and general tenclerness, I am very sure it does not. 



It is a great mistake for a traveler to kill a patriarchal old bull buf- 

 falo, and after attempting to masticate a small portion of him to rise 

 up and declare that buffalo meat is coarse, tough, and dry. A domestic 

 bull of the same age would taste as tough. It is probably only those 

 who have had the bad taste to eat bull beef who have ever found occa- 

 sion to asperse the reputation of Bison amcricanus as a beef animal. 



Until people got tired of them, buffalo tongues were in considerable 

 demand, and hundreds, if not even thousands, of barrels of them were 

 shipped east from the buffalo country. 



Pemmican. — Out of the enormous waste of good buffalo flesh one prod- 

 uct stands forth as a redeeming feature — pemmican. Although made 

 almost exclusively by the half-breeds and Indians of the Northwest, it con- 

 stituted a regular article of commerce of great value to overland travel- 

 ers, and was much sought for as long as it was produced. Its peculiar 

 "staying powers," due to the process of its manufacture, which yielded 

 a most nourishing food in a highly condensed form, made it of inesti- 

 mable value to the overland traveler who must travel light or not at all. 

 A handful of pemmican was sufficient food to constitute a meal when 

 provisions were at all scarce. The price of pemmican in Winnipeg was 



