THE BUFFALO. 123 



rest madly following. " The animals now begin to gallop round 

 and round the fence, looking for some means of escape ; but 

 women and children on the outside, keeping perfectly silent, 

 hold their robes before every orifice, till the whole herd is 

 brought in. They then climb to the top of the fence, and 

 the hunters, who have followed closely in the rear of the 

 buffaloes, spear and shoot with bows and arrows or firearms 

 at the bewildered animals, rapidly becoming frantic with fear 

 and terror in the narrow limits of the pound. A dreadful 

 scene of confusion and slaughter then ensues. The older 

 animals toss the younger. The shouts and screams of the 

 Indians rise above the roar of the bulls, the bellowing of the 

 cows, and the moaning of the calves. The dying struggles 

 of so many powerful animals crowded together, create a 

 revolting scene, dreadful for its excess of cruelty and waste 

 of life."* 



In consequence of this wholesale and wanton destruction, the 

 buffalo has greatly diminished ; and the Indians agree in the 

 belief that their people, in like manner, will decrease till none 

 are left. It is computed that for many years past no less 

 than 145,000 buffaloes have annually been killed in British 

 territory ; while on the great prairies claimed by the United 

 States a still greater number have been slaughtered. In one 

 year — 1855 — on the British side of the boundary, there were 

 20,000 robes of skins received at York Factory alone ; and 

 probably not fewer than 230,000 head of buffalo were 

 .slaughtered in the previous year. This number would have 

 been sufficient to sustain a population of a quarter of a 

 million. Yet so vast a number of the animals are left to 

 rot on the ground, that in all probability not more than 



