1881. ] fiistory of the Buffalo. 123 
of them as being in New Caledonia, and Du Pratz says they did 
not exist in Lower Louisiana. 
In the last century the trade in buffalo wool became brisk, and | 
numerous factories were established for its manufacture into cloth. 
The buffalo roamed in small herds all over the country before 
the advent of the white man, but only on the plains were those 
immense herds, so often described, ever seen. The prairie was its 
favorite resort. The railroads and settlements have, however, 
broken these herds into small bodies, and the unrestrained slaugh- . 
ter of buffalo in the past few years has so reduced their numbers 
that their extinction is a question of a very short time. 
Buffalo make good tractable work cattle when caught young, 
and the Bos Brules frequently use them as such. 
White buffalo have frequently been seen and killed. All the 
Indian tribes regard them as “ big medicine” but they have dif- 
ferent superstitions regarding them. For instance, Catlin, the 
painter, while among the Mandans in 1832, saw a white buffalo 
robe erected on a pole in their village as a sacrifice to the great 
spirit. It had been purchased from the Blackfeet, who killed the 
buffalo, for eight horses and a quantity of goods. On the other 
hand the Comanches believe it very dangerous to see a white buf- 
falo. In 1869 I saw a young Comanche, who had seen a white 
buffalo, return to his camp almost dead with fear. He was taken 
into his tent, the medicine men were sent for, and they smoked 
him and kept up incantations over him day and night for a week, 
When he came out he believed that he had a very narrow escape 
from death. In 1869 a white buffalo was killed by a white man — 
on the north fork of the Red river, I. T., and the hide presented 
to Gen. Grierson. He desired to have it dressed to preserve it, 
but failed to get any Indian to undertake the task for a long time. 
At last he prevailed on a Comanche chief named “ Horseback ” 
to have the operation performed. “Horseback” selected one 
of his squaws, had the .“ medicine men” of his band go through 
various ceremonies over her to preserve her life, and then 
placed her in a teepee some distance from his camp, where 
the hide was taken to her by a soldier and brought away by him ~ 
when dressed. No other Indian would look at the hide, much 
less touch it. Her food was left for her at some distance from 
her teepee, and when the robe was dressed, “ medicine” cere- 
monies were held over her before she was allowed to rejoin the 
