THE EXTEEM1NATI0N OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 483 



by the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Sioux, Pawnees, Omabas, and probably 

 many other tribes. 



5. Decoying and Driving. — Another method of slaughtering by whole- 

 sale is thus described by Lewis aud Clarke, I, 235. • The locality indi- 

 cated was the Missouri River, in Montana, just above the mouth of 

 Judith River: 



u On the north we passed a precipice about 120 feet high, under 

 which lay scattered the fragments of at least one hundred carcasses of 

 buffaloes, although the water which had washed away the lower part 

 of the hill must have carried off mauy of the dead. These buffaloes 

 had been chased down a precipice in a way very common on the Mis- 

 souri, and by which vast herds are destroyed in a moment. The mode 

 of bunting is to select one of the most active and fleet young men, who 

 is disguised by a buffalo skin round bis body ; the skin of the head 

 with the ears and horns fastened on his own head in such a way as to 

 deceive the buffaloes. Thus dressed, he fixes himself at a convenient 

 distance between a herd of buffaloes and any of the river precipices, 

 which sometimes extend for some miles. 



"His companions in the mean time get in the rear and side of the 

 herd, and at a given signal show themselves, and advance towards the 

 buffaloes. They instantly take alarm, and, finding the hunters beside 

 them, they run toward the disguised Indian or decoy, who leads them 

 on at full speed toward the river, when, suddenly securing himself in 

 some crevice of the cliff which he had previously fixed on. the herd is 

 left on the brink of the precipice; it is then in vain for the foremost 

 to retreat or even to stop ; they are pressed on by the hindmost rank, 

 who, seeing no danger but from the hunters, goad on those before them 

 till the whole are precipitated and the shore is strewed with their dead 

 bodies. Sometimes in this perilous seduction the Indian is himself 

 either trodden under foot by the rapid movements of the buffaloes, or, 

 missing his footing in the cliff, is urged down the precipice by the fall- 

 ing herd. The Indians then select as much meat as they wish, and the 

 rest is abandoned to the wolves, and creates a most dreadful stench." 



Harper's Magazine, volume 38, page 147, contains the following from 

 the pen of Theo. R. Davis, in an article entitled " The Buffalo Range : " 



"As I have previously stated, the best bunting on the range is to be 

 found between the Platte and Arkansas Rivers. Here I have seen the 

 Indians have recourse to another method of slaughtering buffalo in a 

 very easy, but to me a cruel way, for where one buffalo is killed several 

 are sure to be painfully injured ; but these, too, are soon killed by the 

 Indians, who make haste to lance or shoot the cripples. 



u The mode of hunting is somewhat as follows : A herd is discovered 

 grazing on the tablelands. Being thoroughly acquainted with the 

 country, the Indians are aware of the location of the nearest point 

 where the table-land is broken abruptly by a precipice which descends 

 a hundred or more feet. Toward this ' devil jump ' the Indians head the 



