482 Expedition to the 



It is remarked by hunters, and appears to be an establish- 

 ed fact, that the odour of a white man is more terrifying to 

 wild animals, particularly the bison, than that of an Indian, 

 This animal, in the course of its periodic migrations, comes in- 

 to the immediate neighbourhood of the permanent Indian vil- 

 lages, on the Missouri and the Platte. One was seen by our 

 hunters within six miles of the Grand Pawnee village, and 

 immediately about the towns, we saw many heads and skele- 

 tons, of such as had been killed there the preceding spring. 

 They had come in, while the Pawnees were absent on their 

 winter's hunt, and at their return, we were informed they 

 found the bisons immediately about their villages. They dis- 

 appeared invariably from the neighbourhood of the white set- 

 tlements within a few years. We are aware that another 

 cause may be found for this, than the frightful scent of the 

 white man, which is the impolitic, exterminating war, which 

 he wages against all unsubdued animals within his reach. 



It would be highly desirable, that some law for the preset - 

 vation of game, might be extended to, and rigidly enforced 

 in the country, where the bison is still met with: that the 

 wanton destruction of these valuable animals, by the white 

 hunters, might be checked or prevented. It is common for 

 hunters to attack large herds of these animals, and having 

 slaughtered as many as they are able, from mere wantonness 

 and love of this barbarous sport, to leave the carcasses to be 

 devoured by the wolves and birds of prey; thousands are 

 slaughtered yearly, of which no part is saved except the 

 tongues. This inconsiderate and cruel practice, is undoubt- 

 edly the principal reason why the bison flies so far and so 

 soon from the neighbourhood of our frontier settlements. 



It is well known to those in the least degree conversant 

 with the Indians, that the odour which their bodies exhale, 

 though very strong and peculiar, is by no means unpleasant,* 



* We may add on this subject the testimony of Lawson, the early his- 

 torian of North Carolina. After describing the huts of the native inhabi- 



