472 Expedition to the 



They are the skins of the cows, almost exclusively, that are 

 used in commerce; those of the bulls being so large, heavy, 

 and difficult to prepare, that this is, comparatively, seldom 

 attempted. 



That the bison formerly ranged over the Atlantic states 

 there can be no doubt, and Lawson informs us that even in 

 his time some were killed in Virginia, and Cumming, in his 

 Sketches of a Tour to the western country, informs us that 

 " long after the country (Kentucky) began to be generally 

 settled, and ceased to be a hunting ground by the Indians," 

 the " buffaloes, bears, and deer were so plenty in the country 

 that little or no bread was used," and " the facility of gain- 

 ing them prevented the progress of agriculture, until the 

 poor innocent buffaloes were completely extirpated, and the 

 other wild animals much thinned." This process of extir- 

 pation has not since been relaxed, and the bison is now 

 driven beyond the lakes, the Illinois, and southern portion of 

 the Mississippi rivers, their range extending from the coun- 

 try west of Hudson's bay to the northern provinces of 

 Mexico. They have not yet crossed the entire breadth of 

 the mountains at the head of the Missouri, though they 

 penetrate, in some parts, far within that range, to the most 

 accessible fertile valleys, particularly the valley of Lewis' 

 river. It was there that Mr. Henry and his party of hunters 

 wintered, and subsisted chiefly upon the flesh of these ani- 

 mals, which they saw in considerable herds, but the Indians 

 affirmed that it was unusual for the bisons to visit that 

 neighbourhood. 



All the mountains which we ascended were more or less 

 strewed with the dung of these animals, about the lower 

 parts, a conclusive evidence that this portion of the range 

 had been traversed by the bisons. 



The cows remain fat from July to the latter part of De- 

 cember. The rutting season occurs towards the latter part 

 »f July, and continues until the beginning of September, 



